Currency & FX conversion
Variables and Dimensions, if set to Currency format, have a Currency drop-down where you can explicitly choose the Local Currency (e.g. USD, JPY, GBP), which will set the currency prefix symbol (e.g. $ ¥ £) or wording (e.g. AUD).
The currency setting on variables/dimensions is useful for two main reasons:
- Visual indication: Displaying clearly which currency each variable is in (in the variable icon, and in each cell)
- FX conversion: Converting data from data sources in different currencies to the variable-set currency, entering data in a local currency whilst having an option to displaying model in one Display Currency (i.e. for multi-currency / multi-entity consolidation).
Exchange Rate (FX) Conversion
Model displays all currencies based on Display Currency set in the model, converting all the variables and dimensions based on FX rates that depend on the customer's configuration in Model Settings:
1. Custom-defined Exchange Rate Tables from CFP. (Available for Lucanet customers), Or
2. ECB (European Central Bank) -sourced exchange rates.
Exchange Rate Types include:
- Average: FX average for the period.
- Closing: End-of-period rate.
Model Level Settings
Display Currency (Top Ribbon)
Shown on the model top ribbon.
What are the currencies I can choose to Display my model in?
- If you are using CFP Exchange rates, you can select any currencies that you have setup in CFP
- If you are using ECB rates you can select any of the global currencies
Variable Settings for Currencies
Each row (variable or dimension) may define its own Local Currency and Exchange Rate Type.
Editing Behavior
All rows are viewed in the selected Display Currency.
BUT Editing occurs in Local Currency that is set on the variable or dimension.
Want to see which Local Currency is set for each dimension or variable? Select "Local Currency" as the Display Currency and all the items will be shown in their saved Local Currency .
Data Sources Conversion
When data that has a currency set (see section below) is connected to a variable in a different currency, Causal will automatically convert all data-connected values to the variable-set-currency.
- e.g. if your variable is in AUD, but you connect data that is in USD, Causal will convert the USD data values to AUD
- e.g. if your data is in USD but you want to see how that converts to EUR, set the variable to EUR and Causal will convert USD to EUR
Data source currency settings
- For common data sources (like QBO and Xero) currency settings are automatically detected and set by Causal.
- For other data sources where Causal can’t auto-detect the currency (e.g. Google Sheets), currency can be manually set (but currency settings are completely off by default).
- When you create new variables from a data source with currency set, Causal will set the variable's format and currency appropriately
Note: Only the user that created the data source can update the currency settings.
FAQ
Different ways to set up your consolidation models
There are many ways you can set up your consolidation in Causal.
You can either have no entity breakdown (in which case you'd drill-down to see detail at the entity level), or you can use dimensions to breakdown by entity (see below) which means you can easily visualise historics by entity, and forecast by entity too.
- Create a dimension called "Entity", and add a dimension item for each entity.
- Breakdown the variables by this Entity dimension, and connect data items from each entity to the relevant entity row.
Note: You can also have separate models for each entity, and then have a linked consolidation model that combines them together. Note however we don't recommend this, as (1) you won't be able to take advantage of our automatic FX conversion (unless you also connect the consolidated model to data from each entity), (2) adding extra entities would be manual (building an extra model, vs. simply adding an extra dimension item in the Entity dimension as per above).