Exchange rate FAQs

Find answers to common questions about exchange rates and exchange rate types.

An exchange rate enables you to specify the following items for a specific transaction:

  • The currency you're converting to and from.
  • The conversion rate.
  • The date that the conversion rate takes effect.

By default, Intacct selects the Intacct daily rate exchange rate type for every transaction you enter. When entering a transaction, you can select a different exchange rate type from the list.

An exchange rate type is a category of exchange rates that you define in Intacct. The default exchange rate type is the Intacct daily rate exchange rate type.

Intacct gets the daily exchange rate one time daily from exchange rate provider, Oanda.com. Oanda calculates the daily exchange rate for that day based on the average ask rate. Oanda then provides this rate to Intacct for transactions that use the Intacct daily rate.

Intacct fetches the Intacct daily rates from Oanda at around 01:00-02:00 UTC.

No. Intacctautomatically maintains the daily rate. It's ready to use out of the box.

Use the current rate option if you need the most up-to-date exchange rate.

Use the 1 day prior rate option if you’re recording transactions in a time standard far removed from UTC -3. The 1 day prior rate option ensures that your transactions for a given day all use the same exchange rate.

You can select either the Intacct daily rate or the 1 day prior rate on the Configure General Ledger page.

For more information, see the following links:

By default, Intacct selects the Intacct daily rate exchange rate type for every transaction you enter. When entering a transaction, you can select a different exchange rate type from the list.

Administrators can change the default exchange rate type by creating a custom exchange rate type and selecting Use as default exchange rate type.

For details about setting the default exchange rate type, see Set the default exchange rate type.

Consider using a custom exchange rate type in the following circumstances:

  • Consolidating accounts that use historical rates.
  • Entering transactions with historical rates, such as opening balances.
Custom exchange rates require manual maintenance, while the Intacct daily rate does not.

By default, Intacct uses the Intacct daily rate exchange rate for all transactions. Intacct handles all the maintenance for you with the Intacct daily rate, such as fetching values, and so on.

If you want to create your own custom exchange rate, do the following: 

  1. Create a custom exchange rate type.
  2. Create a custom exchange rate.

When creating your own exchange rate, you need to maintain the exchange rate manually.

You can override a default exchange rate for a specific transaction. You do this by selecting a different exchange rate from the Exchange rate type dropdown list for that transaction.

Use the From date and To date to get a specific date range during a query. The Effective start date refers to the date the exchange rate first takes effect.

You cannot delete any exchange rate types that are currently being used for any transaction.