How to Set Up Multicurrency for Foreign Suppliers and Customers in QuickBooks Desktop

Before you start

• Back up your company file. Intuit says multicurrency can't be turned off once it's on.
• Decide your home currency. You choose it when you turn the feature on, and reports always show amounts in it.
• Every customer, vendor and account you already have is set to your home currency.
• QuickBooks Desktop 2023 can no longer use or turn on multicurrency. Intuit discontinued that version after May 31, 2026.

What stops working when you turn it on

• Add-ons such as Fixed Asset Manager and Statement Writer use US currency only.
• Insights, Income Tracker, Bill Tracker and Advanced Track Mileage aren't available.
• In Enterprise and Accountant, you can't batch enter invoices or batch delete or void transactions.
• You can't select multiple customers in Invoices for Time and Expenses.
• Customers can't pay foreign-currency invoices online.
• Enterprise Customer Prepayments are turned off.

If you take deposits on orders, see how to take a customer prepayment or deposit on a sales order. It includes a deposit route that doesn't rely on Prepayments.

Step 1: Turn on multicurrency

1. 1Back up your company file.
2. 2Go to Edit > Preferences and select Multiple Currencies.
3. 3On the Company Preferences tab, select Yes, I use more than one currency.
4. 4Choose your home currency, then select OK.

Step 2: Add foreign-currency suppliers and customers

Each customer or vendor can have only one currency. A supplier you buy from in two currencies needs a second vendor profile for the second currency.

1. 1Go to Vendors > Vendor Center, or Customers > Customer Center.
2. 2Select New Vendor > New Vendor, or New Customer:Job > New Customer.
3. 3Enter the name and choose the Currency.
4. 4Select OK.

Step 3: Add foreign-currency bank and credit card accounts

1. 1Go to Lists > Chart of Accounts.
2. 2Right-click anywhere and select New.
3. 3Choose the account type, such as Bank or Credit Card, and give it a name.
4. 4Choose the Currency, then select Save & Close.

Each account has one currency. You assign currencies to bank and credit card accounts yourself. QuickBooks creates Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable accounts for each currency as you enter transactions.

Step 4: Keep exchange rates up to date

Download rates (US dollar home currency only)

1. 1Go to Lists > Currency List.
2. 2Select Activities > Download Latest Exchange Rates.

QuickBooks downloads rates for active currencies only, and only when your home currency is the US dollar.

Enter rates yourself

1. 1Go to Lists > Currency List and double-click the currency.
2. 2In Edit Currency, enter the exchange rate for the date or dates you need.
3. 3Select OK.

Step 5: Enter foreign-currency transactions

• Any transaction with a customer or vendor name uses that name's currency. Intuit's examples are invoices, estimates, sales orders, bills and checks.
• On transactions without a name, such as general journal entries, you choose the currency.
• Each transaction carries its own exchange rate, which sets its value in your home currency.
• Sales and purchase amounts show in the customer's or vendor's currency, with the home currency total alongside.
• A payment must be in the same currency as the invoice or bill it pays.
• Reports always show your home currency.

The usual steps are in how to enter and pay bills and how to receive payments and apply them to invoices. Price levels can have a currency too; see how to set up price levels and customer-specific pricing.

Edge cases

• A supplier who wants payment in another currency: Intuit says the payment's currency must match the bill's currency.
• Batch entry: with multicurrency on, Enterprise and Accountant can't batch enter invoices.
• Online payments aren't available on foreign-currency invoices.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• Someone has to keep exchange rates current, and type them in if your home currency isn't the US dollar.
• Suppliers and customers who deal in two currencies need two profiles, and someone has to pick the right one on every transaction.
• Checking each transaction's exchange rate against the rate you actually got is up to your team.
• Intuit's multicurrency setup article doesn't cover month-end currency revaluation, so agree the approach with your accountant.