SIM Business Package
Change Base Currency Utility

Released October 26, 2001

John Dudeck
SIM International, Box 7900, Charlotte, NC 28241 USA
Phone: 704-588-4300 x1536
Fax: 704-587-1518
E-Mail: John Dudeck <jdudeck@simcsg.sim.org>

Welcome to the "Change Base Currency" utility. This is a program which changes the base currency of a ledger in the SIM Business Package. The program will do a complete conversion of every element involved, including Year to Date Transactions, Master File, and Currency File, including Budgets and Prior Year data.

Click here to download chgbcur.exe self-extracting zip file (86,206 bytes).

What you need to know in a nutshell.

The conversion of your ledger can be done at any time. It does not need to be done necessarily at the beginning of the fiscal year. However you may want to do it at that time to avoid confusion. This is because all transactions already in your ledger will have their amounts converted by the conversion rate into the new base currency.

When changing a ledger's base currency there are several aspects to consider:

1. base currency (VS and VP) accounts which change to the new base currency
2. foreign currency (VM) accounts which remain in their foreign currency
3. foreign currency (VM) accounts which were already in the the new currency and become (VS) in the new base currency
4. base currency (VS and VP) accounts which remain in the old currency and become foreign (VM) accounts.

For cases #1 through #3 the utility automatically figures out what to do.
For case #4 it is necessary to tell the program which accounts need to remain in the old currency. This is explained below.

There are three configuration settings which must be considered.

1. The setting of the exchange rate can be BASFOR or FORBAS, meaning either  "Base To Foriegn" or "Foreign To Base". You may need to change this when converting to the new base currency.

2. The exchange rate normally is expressed in terms of the smallest monetary units, such as centimes per cent (which is the same as Francs per Dollar). If the base currency does not have cents (centimes), it may be desirable to scale the exchange rate by 100. For example instead of CFA per cent, it is better to have CFA per Dollar. The setting for this is called EXM100.

3. The budget amounts are normally rounded off to whole Dollars, Francs, etc. If the base currency has cents (centimes), the budget data is scaled by 100. The setting for this is called BUD100. Base currencies without cents (centimes) do not use BUD100.

When you run the program it will ask you for the new currency and the conversion rate. It will also ask whether the exchange rate format, the exchange rate multiplier, and the budget multiplier will change with the conversion.

The program will only convert one company at a time.

Before you run the program.

1. There must be at least one currency file entry for the new base currency. If you don't have an entry yet for the new currency, add one. It can be associated with any VS or VP account. Enter the exchange rate with respect to your current base currency. Be sure to give it the desired mask.

For example, if changing from FF to EUR, add a new currency named EUR. The exchange rate would be .152449 EUR/FF. Note that this may require you to enter the reciprocal of the rate you will use after the conversion, depending on the exchange rate format before and after. The mask would be ZZZ.ZZZ.ZZZ,XX-. The associated account can be anything, like your Contra account.

2. Go through your chart of accounts and indentify any base currency accounts which must remain in the old base currency after the conversion. Then go into Master file maintenance and put the letters "VM" in the Department Code field for those accounts. This will indicate to the conversion program that these accounts must become foreign currency VM accounts after the conversion.

3. Make a copy of your complete BUSPKG directory. You can either copy to a different directory tree on your hard drive, or to another drive or tape. If you are not satisfied with the results of the conversion you may need to restore the original set of files and start over.

4. Run a set of reports for comparison before and after the conversion. It is particularly useful to run a set of Financial Statements, requesting them in the new Base currency. Then after the conversion you can compare the results easily.

How to install the conversion program.

No special installation is required. The program may be run from floppy disk, or copied to any directory on your hard drive.

If you received the program in a self-extracting zip file (chgbcur.exe), copy the file to a directory on your hard drive such as the BUSPKG directory, and then to extract the programs go to a DOS prompt or the Windows Run... prompt and thpe the name of the file:

 chgbcur <Enter>

Three versions of the program are provided, for use with DBL versions 4.30, 4.31, and 4.40. (Note: the version for 4.30 will work with 4.21, and the version for 4.40 will work with 4.41. If you have any other version of DBL, please contact John Dudeck).

It is assumed that your Business Package data files are located in the "standard" location on drive c: of your system. If this is not the case, you will need to edit the DOS Batch file, CBCxx.BAT (where xx is 30, 31, or 40 according to your version of DBL). Edit these files to adjust the 'set' commands with the locations of the Business Package files on your system.

How to run the Change Base Currency program.

Go to a DOS prompt. Change directory to the location of the CHGBCUR program.

Determine your version of DBL by typing the command:

 DBL

and press <Enter> twice. The version number will be displayed.

To run the CHGBCUR program, type the appropriate command for your version of DBL:

 rc30 <Enter>
  or
 rc31 <Enter>
  or
 rc40 <Enter>

You will first be asked to log into the Business Package. Type in the company number and your user ID. If you do not have a security level of 9, you will not be allowed to run the program.

The program then explains its purpose and asks if you are sure you want to run the program. Press 'y' and <Enter>.

The program then displays the company number and name, the current base currency, and the current USER.DSC settings for exchange rate format, exchange rate multiplier, and budget multiplier. It then asks you to enter the new Base Currency symbol (3 chars).

After you enter the new base currency symbol it checks whether the currency exists in the currency file. If not, you need to stop now and enter it.

It next asks whether the exchange rate format, the exchange rate multiplier, and the budget multiplier will change, respectively. Enter Y for any that will change.

It then displays the currency conversion rate that will be used. This rate is taken from the currency file.

You then are given the opportunity to change any of the responses. When you are satisfied with the information displayed, press <Enter>.

It next asks you to select a printer to print a summary report of the changes to be made. Please print the report to paper for further reference, rather than displaying it to the screen only. Please read over the report and make sure that you understand what it is telling you.

Next the program will perform a number of "sanity" checks to insure that nothing essential has been overlooked. When ready to continue, type 'Y' and press the <Enter> key. It will now begin making changes to your data files which cannot be undone.

When the program has finished it will return to the DOS prompt.

If you have told it to make changes to USER.DSC, the program will make the requested changes for you to your USER.DSC file. There will be a message on the screen reminding you to recompile your Business Package at this time.

If you need to recompile, the procedure is as follows:

At the DOS prompt, change directory to the JCSRCE directory and type 'makesim':

 cd \buspkg\jcsrce
 makesim

It will recompile your Business Package.

After the conversion is complete.

The conversion program will have performed all needed steps. You now should verify that results are as expected.

You should examine the currency file listing, the chart of accounts, the trial balance, and your financial statements. If you ran a set of financial statements in the new currency before conversion, the set after conversion should be similar or identical.

You should do a currency reconciliation after the change. There may be small rounding errors that will need to be reconciled.

When you examine your results, you should keep in mind several things which may make the results appear different than first expected.

Remember:

• former base currency accounts which are now foreign VM accounts will appear in the Trial Balance at the end under the 900000 section.
• former foreign accounts which are now in the base currency will appear in the Trial Balance in the non-900000 section.
• former foreign accounts which are now in the base currency no longer have exchange rate fluctuation transactions which were in previous Trial Balances under the 900000 section. This can cause a comparison before and after to appear slightly off.
• any rounding errors incurred in the conversion process will show up in the  exchange fluctuation account with a batch source code of 'CBCUR'.

If you have problems.

If the screen displays question marks or ERROR for the USER.DSC settings, it is possible that your JCSRCE directory does not exist or does not contain the USER.DSC file. Or it is possible that the cbcxx.bat file needs to be edited manually to set the correct paths for the locations of the files.

If your results do not come out as expected, first try to understand what went wrong. Most likely you need to either make changes to your starting data, or use different selections for the various options.

If you need to start over, remember to copy ALL of the files in JCFILE and GLFILE from your backup copies. If you needed to recompile due to changes in USER.DSC, you must also copy USER.DSC in the JCSRCE directory and ALL of the files in the JCPROG and GLPROG directories from your backups.

If your results are not correct and you can't figure out what to do, please do not hesitate to contact John Dudeck <jdudeck@simcsg.sim.org> or Steve Jay <steve_jay@csi.com> immediately.