[harry50]

I have been using Quicken since the days it was available in DOS back in 1989 and 1990. When Intuit finally introduced the ability to record transactions in different currencies, I was happy. It wasn't long after I started using the feature having a US Dollar account and Canadian Dollar accounts that I ran into a situation and I wonder if others have experienced this and are just as frustrated about it as I am.

Here is the scenario:

Have a transaction to move money from account CADBANK to USBANK. The money being moved is for different reasons. The reasons are setup as classes: ccreason1, ccreason2, ccreason3. So the split transaction in the CADBANK account would look something like this:
[USBANK]/ccreason1 $400.00 @ 1.110 444.00
[USBANK]/ccreason2 $200.00 @ 1.110 222.00
[USBANK]/ccreason3 $100.00 @ 1.110 111.00

When the transaction is recorded in CADBANK account, a window will open asking for the exchange rate to which is entered .9009 for each ccreason. So there are three pop ups, and the total amount recorded for the transaction is $777.00.

In the USBANK account are 3 separate entries, one for each of the 3 ccreason classes and they would have amounts of $400.00, $200.00 and $100.00. When the actual transaction occurs between the two banks, the only thing the banks know is that $777.00 left the Canadian bank and $700.00 was deposited in the US Bank. They don't care what the reasons are.

Later, when the bank reconciliation statements arrive, you download the transactions from the banks and match the bank transactions to the entries in Quicken. For the CADBANK, because the exchange rate is not stored in the database for the transaction, matching the downloaded transaction to the account entry means you have to enter the exchange rate 3 times again after having to do it the first time. When matching the transactions from the USBANK, attempting to do a Manual match of the three transactions just doesn't work in that it again wants the exchange rate and then creates new entries in the CADBANK.

This problem was reported to Quicken in 2005 with zero resolution. They admit this is a problem but the apparently cannot resolve it. Is this a problem for anyone else?

Before anyone gets on my case about the three reasons, it is important to have the three reasons as 2 of the reasons are necessary for reporting in Canadian Tax returns as deductions so it is important to be able to itemize in Quicken for reports the two taxable classes.

[BarryH]

harry50, on Apr 10 2008, 08:56 AM, said:

Harry, you still there?

If so, in my experience, the Online Downloaded items should just 'match' transactions, and, that's it. I download both CDN and US$ account transactions and have never been presented with the conversion pop-up screen. Therefore, I'm not sure what your problem might be. Keep posting,

Barry

[PuertoEscondidan]

In a way I am glad you are having this problem because it is my first confirmation that Quicken can now actually handle multiple currencies. I first started using Quicken as a single currency system in the early 90's. When I was visiting the UK a few years later, I saw that they had multiple currency systems and I purchased a copy there that I have been using for 10+ years, first on Windows 95, 98, then XP, but since I bought a Vista laptop cannot use it any longer (Thanks Microsoft). Can you confirm that the version of Quicken you are using is the basic Home & Business version. Thanks.

[BarryH]

PuertoEscondidan, on Jan 30 2010, 10:13 AM, said:

In a way I am glad you are having this problem because it is my first confirmation that Quicken can now actually handle multiple currencies. I first started using Quicken as a single currency system in the early 90's. When I was visiting the UK a few years later, I saw that they had multiple currency systems and I purchased a copy there that I have been using for 10+ years, first on Windows 95, 98, then XP, but since I bought a Vista laptop cannot use it any longer (Thanks Microsoft). Can you confirm that the version of Quicken you are using is the basic Home & Business version. Thanks.

PE, yes I can. It's Quicken Home and Business 2008. I've used it with 3 concurrent currency accounts but only $Cdn/US for dowload purposes. I also use RBC Online Banking and, with $CDN as the home currency, no problems downloading $US a/c transactions from the Bank.

Barry

[taxdetective]

Hi, on the topic of multi-currency in Quicken, I too have been using Quicken since 1986. And... discovered years ago that if you try to transfer between investment accounts in different currencies, it won't stay fixed, but floats with the change in currency each time you open the entry. I learned to lock down any transfers by using a Cash account as a clearing account instead of going direct between two investment accounts in different currencies.