East Africa trades in five currencies and quotes in a sixth. A safari lodge prices rooms in US dollars and takes M-Pesa in shillings; a Kampala wholesaler imports in dollars, sells in Ugandan shillings and pays a Tanzanian supplier in TZS. None of that is a problem until the report at month end, when three currencies have to become one truthful number.
Pick one home currency and keep it
Every business needs a single currency the books are kept in — usually the currency of the country you file tax in. Prices can be shown in whatever the customer expects; the record underneath is always converted to home currency at the rate on the day.
Showing one currency, taking another
The guest sees a USD rate on the booking; the folio shows the same stay in KES at check-out; the M-Pesa payment arrives in KES. A system that only knows one currency forces someone to work that out on paper, twice. The better setup stores the quoted currency, the paid currency and the rate used, so the folio, the receipt and the report all agree.
Rates: a small routine that saves arguments
- Update your rates on a schedule — weekly is fine for a shop, daily for a hotel with many foreign guests.
- Use a source you can point to when a customer asks.
- Record the rate on each document, so a March invoice does not change value in June.
- Keep exchange gains and losses as their own line rather than losing them in sales.
What changes in the reports
Revenue, receivables and payables read in home currency; the original document keeps its own. VAT is calculated on the home-currency value. A customer statement can show what they were invoiced in USD and what they paid in KES, with the difference explained by the rate rather than by a mystery.
How NodePoint handles it
NodePoint prices, sells and reports in KES, UGX, TZS, RWF, USD and seven more, with tax settings that follow the country chosen at setup. Accounts keeps documents in their own currency with the home-currency value beside them; the hotel app quotes and settles in different currencies on the same folio. The country pages for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda list what is set up for each.
Related: bookkeeping basics for a small business and keeping VAT tidy for KRA.