In Loan Performer both GL Accounts and products are bound to a currency. To start working with different currencies you need to add and then define parameters for each currency that you will be dealing with. These currencies can be updated, deleted or modified in accordance to your organisations policies.
Loan performer also allows Microfinance Institutions (MFI) to operate in a variety of foreign currencies in addition to the local currency or ‘Base Currency’. This should help MFIs and other financial entities using Loan Performer to communicate/ report their data/ information in currencies of their donors, agencies or other stake holders in currencies they may understand better.
Currency feature in loan performer can therefore be used both as a currency (Base currency) or filter (Reporting purposes) so that you can generate your reports based on another currency other than the base currency possibly report to your Central Bank in a local currency while reporting to the donors partners and other stake holders in a foreign currency using the same Management Information System (MIS).
However note that before a foreign currency transaction is entered, exchange rates must be entered at menu Support Files /Exchange ratesotherwise you cannot enter a transaction in a foreign currency and then, afterwards change the exchange rate and the exchange rate of the base currency and the foreign currency (ies) should have also been defined.
How to add currencies.
To add a currency you go to Support Files/Currencies and a screen like the one below shows up:
Currency: Here you enter the abbreviation for the currency you want to add, e.g., "USD"..
Country: Enter the country to which the currency belongs, e.g., "United States of America".
Name: Here you enter the name of the currency that you are adding, e.g., "Dollars".
Label for cents: Here you enter the label for the cents if the currency being added has cents, e.g., "Cents".
Symbol: Enter the symbol to represent the currency being added, e.g., "$".
Number of decimals: Enter the number of decimal places that you want the currency being added to display in the accounts, e.g., "2". The figures then will appear like "210,339.08 or 210,300.00"
Rounding on: Specify the number of decimal places to which the currency should be rounded up to, e.g., "2".
Note:
The field "Number of decimals" enables you to define the number of decimal places figures should have. Note that in LPF you can have a maximum of two decimal places. A positive value either "0", "1" or "2" entered in the field "Rounding on" does actually round off figures according to the number of decimal places specified. Therefore, enter in corresponding way either "0", "1" or "2" in those two fields in the menu Support Files/Currencies.
To get rid off decimals and small amounts you can not get as money, enter a negative value in the field "Rounding on". Then, amounts will be rounded off according to the number of decimal places specified regardless of the value entered in the field "Number of decimals".
Therefore, the field "Rounding on" enables you to automatically get rid of small amounts you can't get as money e.g the amount "87" of the figure "587.25". For loans, when you enter a negative value e.g "-2" in the field "Rounding on", then according to the number of decimal places defined in the menu Support Files/Currencies, the system will round off the decimals and the small values of full amounts to zero. This is to say, "587.25" will be rounded off to "600" by deducting the necessary amount to round it off from the last installment of the loan in the menu Loan/Loan application/Loan Entry Part 2.
Since the values added when rounding off the amounts are deducted from the last installment of the loan, you risk ending up with negative figures for a repayment schedule with very many installments. In this case the repayment schedule will result into negative figures because of the number of installments, the system will return the following error message and the user will not be able to proceed with the loan application in the menu Loan/Loan application/Loan Entry Part 1.
Note that Loan Performer also allows you to manually round off amounts by clicking the corresponding button in the menu Loan/Loan application/Loan Entry Part 2.
RndDown: Click on this button to manually round off the amounts of the repayment schedule to smaller amounts starting with the decimals. The small values deducted will be added to the corresponding amount of the last installment of the loan.
R<<: Click on this button to manually round off the amounts starting with the decimals. The small values added will be deducted from the corresponding amount of the last installment of the loan.
R>>: Click on this button several times to return to the original amounts of the repayment schedule. that some loan installments may have amounts that may not be practical to pay.
RndUp: Click on this button to manually round off the amounts of the repayment schedule to higher amounts starting with the decimals. The small values added will be deducted from the corresponding amount of the last installment of the loan.
Click on the Add button to add the new currency and repeat this for the different currencies that you want to add.
Note that the added currencies will be displayed in the scroll space.
Click on the Close button to exit.
How to delete a currency.
To delete a currency you go to Support Files/Currencies and a screen like the one below shows up.
From the list of displayed currencies, click on the label to be deleted and click on the Delete command to effect the deletion.
From the list of the displayed currencies in the currencies dialog, click on the one that you want to delete\modify. The variables for the selected currency will be displayed.
To Modify the rate make the necessary changes and click on the Update button. To delete the rate click on the Delete button.
Note that you can click on the "Print" button to view\print the currencies and keep them for future reference.
Click on the Close button to exit.
Note that when the option Base currency is selected for a selected currency, the transactions entered will use this currency in Loan Performer. Base currency is selected at installation of LPF version 8 or upgrading to LPF version 8. Only one base currency can be set. A base currency can only be changed in case there are no financial transactions that had been entered.
In case there are no financial entries that have been entered, then, click the currency that was previously set as the base currency and de-activate the Base currency option. Click on the update button and then enter or select a currency for which you check the Base currency option.
