Settlement currency

A settlement currency lets you issue an invoice in one currency (say HKD) while your customer sees and pays it in another (say EUR). Everything the customer receives — the PDF, the email, the online invoice page, reminders, online payments and their statement — shows only the settlement currency and amount. Your books don’t change: the invoice is still recorded in its own currency.

How it works

Where	What happens
Customer	You can give a customer a default settlement currency. Every new invoice and customer credit note for them starts with it.
Invoice / credit note	Each document has its own settlement currency and rate. You can change them on the document at any time.
What the customer receives	Every amount (lines, discounts, tax, totals, payments, balance due) is shown in the settlement currency. The exchange rate and the original currency are not shown.
Online payments	The customer pays the settlement amount, in the settlement currency.
Your books	Unchanged — the invoice and its journal entry stay in the invoice currency. Any difference when it’s paid is booked as a realized FX gain or loss.

There are two ways to set the rate:

Rate	How it’s decided
System Rate on Issue Date	The system exchange rate on the document’s issue date. While the document is a draft it’s an estimate; it’s fixed when you approve it, so the amounts your customer sees never drift afterwards.
Manual Rate	The rate you type on the document — for example an agreed rate or a pegged rate like 7.8.

Rates are entered and shown in the usual market order — for example EUR/HKD 8.9139 means 1 EUR = 8.9139 HKD (see Currencies & exchange rates).

Set a default for a customer

1. Go to Contacts, open the customer, and click Edit.
2. Under Settles in, pick the currency the customer pays in.
3. Choose the Settlement exchange rate: System Rate on Issue Date, or Manual Rate (you’ll enter the rate on each invoice or credit note).
4. Click Save.

New invoices and customer credit notes for this customer now start with that settlement currency. Existing documents aren’t changed. The customer’s Details tab shows it as Settlement Currency.

Set it on an invoice

When you create an invoice (Invoices → New Invoice), the Settles in field fills in from the customer’s default as soon as you pick the customer. You can change it right there:

• Invoice currency — no conversion; the invoice is shown in its own currency.
• A currency — choose System Rate on Issue Date or Manual Rate. For a manual rate, type the rate. The field shows the system rate next to it for comparison.

Double-check unusual rates

If a manual rate is more than 5% away from the system rate, AccountFUN asks you to tick I confirm this rate is correct before saving — a quick guard against typing 78 instead of 7.8.

Change it later

On the invoice page, the Settlement line shows what applies — for example Settles in EUR · EUR/HKD 8.9139 (system rate, Oct 1, 2026). Under the Total and Balance Due you also see the settlement-currency amounts the customer is asked to pay. Click Change to pick another currency or rate. You can do this at any status:

• On a draft, a system rate stays an estimate until approval.
• On an approved invoice, choosing the system rate fixes the rate for the issue date again; a manual rate takes effect straight away.

Every change is recorded in the invoice’s History & Notes.

Already sent the invoice?

If you change the settlement currency or rate after emailing the invoice, the customer still has the old amounts. Send the invoice again so they get the updated PDF.

What the customer sees

• PDF — every amount in the settlement currency only. No exchange-rate line and no mention of the original currency.
• Email — amounts in the subject and message (like {{amountDue}}) match the attached PDF.
• Online invoice page and its PDF — the same settlement amounts.
• Reminders — automatic and manual reminders show the settlement balance.
• Pay Now — the button on the PDF simply says Pay Now. The pay buttons on the online page and the checkout charge the settlement amount, in the settlement currency (see below).
• Statements — the invoice is listed in the settlement currency (see Contacts → Customer statements).
• Payment Schedule portions — the schedule rows on a portion invoice (schedule total, paid so far, remaining) are converted too. The payment schedule document itself stays in the schedule’s currency, because it isn’t an issued invoice.

If no exchange rate can be found (for example no system rate exists for the pair), printing and emailing the PDF stop with a message asking you to set the rate on the invoice. Automatic reminders and the online page fall back to the invoice currency.

Getting paid

Online payments

When the customer pays online, they pay the settlement balance due in the settlement currency — exactly the amount on their invoice (plus any card surcharge you’ve set up, which is worked out on the settlement amount). In your books, AccountFUN records the payment in the currency it was charged, clears the invoice in its own currency, and books any difference as a realized FX gain or loss. See Online invoice payments.

Recording a payment yourself

When you Record Payment in the settlement currency, the exchange rate defaults to the invoice’s settlement rate, so paying exactly the settlement amount clears the invoice with no leftover balance. You can still edit the rate if the customer paid at a different one.

Credit notes

Customer (receivable) credit notes have a settlement currency too:

• A credit note created from an invoice (Create Credit Note) copies the invoice’s settlement currency and rate, so the credit matches the invoice’s settlement amounts exactly.
• A standalone credit note starts with the customer’s default.
• The credit note’s PDF, email and online page show only the settlement currency.

When you apply a credit note to an invoice that settles in the same currency at a different rate, the credit is applied by its settlement value — for example, a EUR 100 credit clears a EUR 100 invoice in full even though the two documents were converted at different rates. The difference is booked as a realized FX gain or loss. See Credit notes → Settlement currency.

Show both currencies on your own template

Built-in templates show only the settlement currency. If you want a custom template to show the original amounts or the rate as well, these tokens are available (see the Show available tokens list in the template editors):

Token	Shows
{{total}}, {{subtotal}}, {{tax_total}}, {{balance_due}}	The amount in the settlement currency
{{currency}}, {{currency_symbol}}	The settlement currency code / symbol
{{invoice_total}}, {{invoice_subtotal}}, {{invoice_tax_total}}, {{invoice_balance_due}}	The original amount in the invoice currency
{{invoice_currency}}, {{invoice_currency_symbol}}	The invoice currency code / symbol
{{settlement_rate}}	The exchange rate used, e.g. EUR/HKD 8.9139 (empty when not converting)

Email templates have matching placeholders — see Business email → Available placeholders.

Worked example

Northwind (books in HKD) invoices Blue Harbor, who pays in euros.

1. Edit Blue Harbor and set Settles in to EUR, System Rate on Issue Date.
2. Create an invoice for Blue Harbor for HKD 891.39 issued on Oct 1. The Settles in field already shows EUR.
3. Approve it. The rate on Oct 1 — say EUR/HKD 8.9139 — is fixed on the invoice.
4. Email it. The PDF shows Total 100.00 EUR, and the email reads “…for €100.00”. Nothing on it mentions HKD or the rate.
5. Blue Harbor clicks Pay Now and pays €100.00 by card. AccountFUN records the EUR payment, clears the HKD 891.39 invoice, and books any difference to FX gain/loss.