Multicurrency Management: Should I enable it?

A question that we often get asked in support is: “Should I enable Multicurrency even if I’m not going to use different currencies?”

This is completely up to you as a customer, but based on many support incidents our recommendation would be yes, enable Multicurrency. But why enable it?  There are a few reasons:

1) If you enable Multicurrency and set a Functional Currency initially this will prevent you from having to run a lengthy Check Links process later on down the road if you decide to enable Multicurrency.  If you don’t enable Multicurrency and decide 10 years later to enable it, you will be required to run the Check Links process on 'Multicurrency Setup' (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Maintenance >> Check Links >> Series = Financial >> Insert Multicurrency Setup) to assign all your transactions to your Functional Currency, this could take quite some time depending on the amount of data that you have.

2) If you are using Analytical Accounting and printing reports using Management Reporter, Management Reporter relies heavily on the Currency ID associated with the transactions in General Ledger and in Analytical Accounting. If these Currency ID’s don’t match Management Reporter will not pull the unmatched transactions onto the report. By enabling Multicurrency you an ensuring all Analytical Accounting and General Ledger data has a Currency ID leaving less room for discrepancies.

3) Mismatched currency ID's may also result in documents not showing up when trying to use apply windows in Payables Management, Receivables Management or Lockbox. Therefore, if you do not wish to use Multicurrency, it is still recommended to leave Multicurrency Management marked in the Registration window going forward once you set up a functional currency, and grant access to only this one currency ID going forward.

4) You may want to use different currencies in the future and this will provide that functionality, but you do not have to use this functionality until you are ready.

5) Many Third Party Applications and Integrating Applications require a Functional Currency. When you enable Multicurrency all your transactions will be associated with your main Functional Currency and will remain going forward. It's important to make sure your Functional Currency is correct before selecting it.  Your Functional Currency should be the primary currency in which your company uses for its financial records. 

NOTE: Once a Functional Currency has been selected this cannot be changed.

6) Certain SBA integrations require Multicurrency.

7) When you use the Copy To New Requisition functionality, decimal places will be dropped

8) Multicurrency Management is now an included with your registration keys in Microsoft Dynamics.

There are some helpful Knowledgebase Articles that will help with setting up your System and Company for Multicurrency:

System setup checklist for Multicurrency Management in Microsoft Dynamics GP
 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/858556

 How to set up a company in Multicurrency Management in Microsoft Dynamics GP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/858730

NOTE: If you aren’t using multiple currencies some of this setup will not be required.