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Understanding Multi-Currency in Accounting

In accounting systems, all transactions are ultimately stored and reported in the base currency of the company (most commonly EUR).
Even when multi-currency is supported, accounting software always maintains both:
  • the original transaction currency, and
  • the converted base currency equivalent.
If multi-currency is not supported, then only the base currency is recorded — all conversions must be done before sending data to the accounting system.

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How Chift Handles Multi-Currency

With the Unified API, you don’t need to worry about whether the underlying connector supports multi-currency — Chift automatically handles both scenarios. The key is to always check whether your transaction currency differs from the folder’s base currency.

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1. Check the base currency of the folder

Each accounting folder has a main_currency field available in the Get Folder endpoint. If your transaction is in another currency (e.g. USD while the folder base currency is EUR), it is considered a foreign currency transaction.

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2. Provide currency and exchange rate fields

When posting an invoice, journal entry, or financial entry in a foreign currency:
  • Set the currency field in your payload (the currency of the transaction).
  • Set the currency_exchange_rate field to specify the exchange rate between the base and foreign currency.
If the connected accounting software supports multi-currency:
  • The transaction is booked in the foreign currency, and
  • The accounting software handles conversion and FX gain/loss tracking automatically.
If the accounting software does not support multi-currency:
  • Chift converts the transaction amount to the base currency using the provided currency_exchange_rate.
  • The transaction is then stored in base currency only.

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3. Forcing an exchange rate (advanced)

By default, when a connector supports multi-currency, Chift will use the accounting software’s default exchange rate for the selected date and currency pair. However, you can override this behavior by using the force_currency_exchange query parameter (available on journal entry creation).
💡 Recommendation:
Use this parameter whenever your system is the source of truth for exchange rates (i.e., you define the rate at emission time).

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✅ Best Practices

  • Always compare your transaction currency with the folder’s main_currency.
  • Always include both currency and currency_exchange_rate — even when not strictly required.
    → This ensures consistent behavior across all connectors.
  • Use force_currency_exchange=true when you need full control over the applied rate.
  • Keep your exchange rates rounded to 6 decimal places for accuracy and stability.
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