There are four key currency types:
- Employee Bank Account Currency: The currency in which an employee's bank account is denominated.
- Receipt/Expense Currency: The currency in which the original receipt or expense is recorded.
- Payment Currency: The currency used for making the reimbursement payment.
- Functional Currency of Entity: This is the primary currency of the entity
Reimbursement Scenarios
There are two main scenarios for international reimbursements:
- USD Business Bank Account Paying Internationally: Reimbursements involving payments from a USD-denominated business bank account to international employees.
- Non-USD Bank Account Payments: Transactions involving payments from a non-USD bank account for international reimbursements.
Accounting Limitations
The systems have certain limitations:
- They can represent a maximum of two currencies per expense.
- One of the currencies must be the entity’s functional currency
- If the currency we send is the entity’s functional currency, only that one currency can be represented on the expense
- The exchange rate always converts to the entity’s functional currency.
Sync Behavior by ERP
The behavior of different ERPs with respect to syncing payment and transaction currencies:
- Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Xero, CSV: Syncs in payment currency.
- NetSuite: Syncs in the original receipt currency.
Exchange Rates
- Exchange rates are pulled from the open exchange rate API.
- Rates are applied based on the transaction or approval date.
- Conversion rates cannot be applied for reimbursements made in a single currency.
Scenario |
Sage Intacct |
NetSuite |
QBO |
Xero |
UCSV |
USD Business Bank Account + Paying international employee |
Sync in payment currency (USD) |
Sync in original receipt currency (NOT EQUAL TO EMPLOYEE CURRENCY) |
Sync in USD (payment currency) |
Sync in USD (payment currency) |
Sync in USD (payment currency) |
Non-USD Bank Account (international reimbursement debiting) |
Sync in payment currency |
Sync in original receipt currency |
Not supported |
Not supported |
Sync in payment currency |
Example 1: USD Business Bank Account + Paying International Employee
Context
- Your company is headquartered in the US, and your functional currency is USD.
- Your business checking account is held in USD.
- You have an employee located in France who submits an expense report in EUR.
Process
- The employee in France uploads a receipt in EUR (the receipt/expense currency).
- You approve the reimbursement in Ramp, intending to pay from your USD business bank account.
- Because your functional currency is USD, the system calculates any necessary exchange rate from EUR → USD on the transaction or approval date.
- When you sync this reimbursement:
- Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Xero, CSV: The transaction is recorded in USD (the payment currency).
- NetSuite: The transaction syncs in the original receipt currency (EUR). However, NetSuite will still convert to USD in the background for your entity’s overall accounting, as required.
Example 2: Non-USD Bank Account (International Reimbursement Debiting)
Context
- Your company is still headquartered in the US (functional currency = USD).
- However, you maintain a UK business bank account in GBP.
- An employee in the UK incurs expenses in GBP and needs to be reimbursed directly from your GBP account.
Process
- The employee submits a receipt in GBP (the receipt/expense currency).
- You approve the reimbursement in Ramp, choosing your GBP bank account to pay the employee.
- The system applies the correct exchange rate to convert the transaction amount into USD for your entity’s underlying accounting (since your functional currency is USD).
- When you sync this reimbursement:
- Sage Intacct, CSV: The transaction is recorded in the payment currency (GBP).
- NetSuite: The transaction syncs in the original receipt currency (GBP).
- QuickBooks Online, Xero: Currently do not support non-USD reimbursements in this workflow.