Managing Currency Exchange Rates in Catalyst – EBM Software

Catalyst provides flexible currency exchange rate management to support multi-currency reporting across your global organization. Whether using automated system-generated rates powered by real-time financial data or defining custom rates based on your accounting standards, Catalyst ensures accurate currency conversion for both balance sheet and income statement reporting.

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FX Currency Rates

System-Generated & User-Defined Exchange Rates

✓ Real-Time Rates ✓ Custom Rates ✓ 170+ Currencies

Currency Rate Management Overview

For organizations operating across multiple currencies, accurate exchange rate management is essential for financial reporting. Catalyst offers two approaches to currency conversion: automated system-generated rates that update continuously from reliable financial data sources, or user-defined rates that you control manually based on your organization's accounting policies.

The choice between system-generated and user-defined rates depends on your organization's requirements. Many companies use system-generated rates for operational efficiency, while others require user-defined rates to maintain consistency with corporate accounting standards or to match rates locked in by treasury departments.

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Access FX Rate Management

Navigate to Administration > Manage Actuals > Currency Exchange Rates to configure and manage your organization's exchange rates.

Understanding Rate Types

Catalyst uses two distinct rate types to ensure accurate financial reporting across different statement types. Each rate serves a specific purpose based on the nature of the financial data being converted.

Rate TypeDescriptionUsed For

Spot RateExchange rate at the end of the period—represents the value at a specific point in timeBalance Sheet accounts

Average RateAverage daily rate across the entire period—represents activity over timeIncome Statement accounts & profitability cubes

💡 Why Two Rate Types?

Balance Sheets are "point in time" reports—they show your cash balance as of January 31, for example. The spot rate reflects the value at that specific moment.

Income Statements are "over time" reports—they show sales from January 1 through January 31. The average rate represents activity across the entire period, not just the final day.

System-Generated Rates

System-generated rates are automatically retrieved from Fixer.io, a professional foreign exchange rate API that aggregates data from over 15 reliable sources including banks and financial data providers. These rates update continuously to ensure your reporting reflects current market conditions.

How Fixer.io Powers Catalyst Rates

Catalyst integrates with Fixer.io to provide real-time, accurate exchange rate data for 170+ world currencies. Fixer.io delivers midpoint rates—calculated as the average of bid and ask prices—which represent fair market value at any given time.

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Multiple Data Sources

Rates aggregated from 15+ banks and financial providers, updated every minute for maximum accuracy

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Midpoint Rates

Fair market rates calculated as the average of bid and ask prices, ensuring balanced valuations

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Automatic Updates

No manual intervention required—rates stay current automatically with end-of-day historical rates available by 00:05 GMT

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170+ Currencies

Comprehensive coverage including all major world currencies plus Bitcoin, Gold, and Silver rates

When System-Generated Rates Are Used

Catalyst automatically uses system-generated rates when the User Defined columns remain empty in the Currency Exchange Rates interface. This is the default behavior and requires no configuration beyond enabling the currencies you need.

System-generated rates shown with empty user-defined columns

✓ System-Generated Rate Indicators

If you see blank fields under the "User Defined" column headers, Catalyst is using system-generated rates from Fixer.io. The example above shows this configuration—rates are automatically populated without manual entry.

Understanding Spot Rates

Spot rates represent the exchange rate at the end of a specific period. In foreign exchange markets, spot rates have opening, high, low, and closing values throughout each trading day. Organizations must choose which value to use consistently across their reporting.

Catalyst system-generated spot rates default to the high balance for the day. If your organization uses user-defined rates, you should maintain consistency by always using the same position (open, high, low, or close) from your chosen data source.

📌 Spot Rate Example

Your cash balance as of January 31, 2025 is €100,000. The spot rate on that date is 1.08 USD/EUR. Your balance sheet shows $108,000 in USD—this reflects the currency value at that specific point in time.

Spot rates answer: "What is the USD value of my EUR balance right now?"

Understanding Average Rates

Average rates represent the mean daily exchange rate across an entire period. This smooths out daily fluctuations and provides a more representative rate for transactions that occurred throughout the period rather than on a single day.

For income statement accounts, average rates ensure that revenue, expenses, and profitability metrics reflect the economic reality of when transactions actually occurred, not just the exchange rate on the final day of the period.

📌 Average Rate Example

Your European subsidiary generated €500,000 in sales from January 1-31, 2025. The average rate for January was 1.05 USD/EUR. Your income statement shows $525,000 in sales—this reflects the average value across the entire month of activity.

Average rates answer: "What was the USD value of my EUR sales over this entire period?"

User-Defined Rates

User-defined rates give you complete control over exchange rate management. Many organizations require this approach to maintain consistency with corporate accounting policies, match rates established by treasury departments, or comply with specific regulatory requirements.

When to Use User-Defined Rates

Organizations typically choose user-defined rates when they need to:

Match exchange rates locked by treasury or finance teams
Align with rates used in corporate consolidation systems
Apply specific rate sources required by auditors or regulators
Maintain consistency across multiple financial systems
Use proprietary rate calculations or hedged rates

Setting User-Defined Rates

To implement user-defined rates, simply enter values into the "User Defined" columns for both Spot and Average rates in the Currency Exchange Rates interface. Once any value is entered (even a space character), Catalyst will prioritize user-defined rates over system-generated rates for that currency.

User-defined rates with values entered in user-defined columns

⚠️ Important: User-Defined Rate Behavior

If anything is entered into a User Defined column cell—even just a space character—Catalyst will default to user-defined rates for that currency. Ensure you only populate these fields when you intend to override system-generated rates with your own values.

Common Rate Sources

Organizations using user-defined rates typically source their exchange rates from one of the following providers:

SourceDescriptionType

Yahoo FinancePublic financial data platform with free currency ratesFree

OANDAProfessional forex data provider with extensive historical ratesSubscription

BloombergEnterprise-grade financial data with real-time and historical ratesSubscription

XE.comPopular currency converter with historical rate archivesSubscription

Corporate TreasuryInternal rates set by your organization's finance departmentInternal

Your accounting team determines which source to use based on organizational policies, audit requirements, and consistency with other financial systems. Regardless of source, maintain the same rate position (open, high, low, close) for all spot rates to ensure consistency.

Best Practices

Recommended Practices for FX Rate Management

Choose Your Rate Strategy Early

Decide between system-generated and user-defined rates during initial implementation. Switching strategies mid-period can create inconsistencies in historical reporting.

Maintain Consistency in Rate Position

If using user-defined spot rates, always use the same position (open, high, low, or close) from your data source. Mixing positions will create inconsistent results across periods.

Document Your Rate Sources

Keep clear documentation of which rate source you're using and why. This is essential for audits, troubleshooting, and maintaining consistency when team members change.

Verify Rates Before Period Close

Review exchange rates before closing each period, especially if using user-defined rates. A single incorrect rate can significantly impact financial statements.

Align with Corporate Policies

Ensure your Catalyst rate strategy aligns with your organization's broader accounting and treasury policies. Consistency across systems simplifies consolidation and reduces reconciliation issues.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue & Solution

❌ Rates not updating automatically

Check if user-defined rates are enabled unintentionally

System-generated rates only update when User Defined columns are completely empty. Even a space character will prevent automatic updates. Clear all user-defined fields to restore automatic rate updates.

❌ Inconsistent conversion results across periods

Verify consistent rate position for spot rates

If using user-defined rates, ensure you're always using the same position (open, high, low, or close) from your data source. Mixing positions across periods creates artificial fluctuations.

❌ Balance sheet and income statement show different conversion rates

This is expected behavior—different statements use different rate types

Balance sheets use spot rates (end-of-period), while income statements use average rates (across the period). This is standard accounting practice and ensures accurate representation of both position and activity.

❌ Missing rates for newly added currencies

Enable the currency in Catalyst's currency management

System-generated rates only appear for currencies that have been activated in your Catalyst instance. Contact your administrator to enable additional currencies if needed.

Understanding Decimal Precision

Exchange rates in Catalyst are stored with full precision but displayed with limitations depending on where you view them. Understanding these display differences is important when verifying rates or troubleshooting conversion discrepancies.

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Catalyst UI Display

The Currency Exchange Rates interface displays rates with up to 4 decimal places

Example: 1.0847

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Excel Export

Exported data shows the full precision of stored rates with no decimal limit

Example: 1.084723956

💡 Verification Tip

If an exchange rate appears incorrect or doesn't match your expected value when viewing in Catalyst, export the Currency Exchange Rates data to Excel to see the complete precision. The additional decimal places may explain apparent discrepancies in currency conversions.

This display limitation only affects what you see in the Catalyst interface—all calculations use the full precision stored in the system. When troubleshooting conversion amounts or comparing rates to external sources, always export to Excel to verify you're comparing the actual stored values.

Effective currency rate management ensures accurate multi-currency reporting across your organization. Whether you choose automated system-generated rates for operational efficiency or user-defined rates for policy alignment, Catalyst provides the flexibility and control you need. For additional assistance with FX rate configuration or troubleshooting, contact your EBM account manager or support team.