Exchange Bot

The Exchange Bot keeps balance values of accounts across multiple currencies in sync with every transaction — no manual replication or batch processes required.

It can also calculate unrealized FX gains and losses at any moment from the perspective of any operating currency, giving you tighter control over foreign exchange risk.

Multiple currency accounting

To track finances in multiple currencies, create a separate Bkper book for each currency with a name and currency suffix (e.g. MyBusiness USD, MyBusiness EUR, MyBusiness JPY) and place them all in one collection named without the suffix (e.g. MyBusiness).

Install the Exchange Bot on every book in the collection and set the required properties on each book.

Transaction mirroring

Once the Exchange Bot is installed and book properties are set, transactions posted in one currency are automatically mirrored in the other currency books at the exchange rate at the time of posting.

Transaction properties can override the fetched exchange rate when the actual rate differs — common with international wire transfers.

FX gains and losses

The Exchange Bot menu (accessible from More on any book in the collection) runs an exchange update process. This calculates and records foreign exchange gains or losses on your assets according to real-time rates.

The bot records exchange differences in liability accounts with the same name as the permanent account plus an EXC suffix. These accounts are created automatically.

Note

When the Exchange Bot works alongside the Portfolio Bot, unrealized and realized FX gains and losses for traded assets are recorded in incoming-type accounts (due to their trading nature) rather than liability accounts.

Exchange Bot status

• Gray icon — working properly
• Red icon — error
• No icon — not installed

How the Exchange Bot works

The flow for a single transaction:

1. You post a transaction in one currency book (e.g. USD): 100 Bank Account >> Accounts Payable
2. The post event triggers the Exchange Bot, which determines which other currencies need this transaction.
3. The bot fetches current exchange rates.
4. The bot posts the same transaction in the other book(s) converted to each currency (e.g. EUR): 98.50 Bank Account >> Accounts Payable

Installation

Books and collection

Create at least two currency books, add them all to one Bkper collection, and install the Exchange Bot on every book.

Note

If your books are already in a collection for the Portfolio Bot or any other bot, you do not need a separate collection — the same one works.

Accounts

Create a chart of accounts in each book representing all your assets and liabilities across currencies. For example, if you have a Citi Bank account in the USA and a Deutsche Bank account in Europe, create both accounts in both the USD and EUR books. The European bank balance in the USD book is represented in USD value, and vice versa.

Note

Exchange gain and loss accounts (realized and unrealized) are created automatically by the bot when you run Exchange Gain/Loss from the context menu.

Groups

Optionally, create groups for each currency and place all accounts that should be mirrored into that group. This simplifies managing which accounts participate in multi-currency replication. See group configuration below.

Configuration

Book properties

Set the exc_code property on every currency book in the collection:

exc_code: USD

exc_code: EUR

exc_code: JPY

Group properties

Group properties are optional. The Exchange Bot generally matches accounts by name across books. Adding an exc_code to a group ensures its accounts are replicated in the correct currencies:

exc_code: USD

Transaction properties

Transaction properties are optional but allow you to override fetched exchange rates — useful when the actual rate differs from the market rate:

exc_code: USD
exc_amount: 1200

The exc_code specifies which currency to override, and exc_amount indicates the correct amount. For example, when wiring money from a European bank to a USD account, you specify that the exact amount in the target currency was 1200.

Find all configuration settings at bkper.com/apps/exchange-bot.

Exchange operations

Regular transactions

Regular transactions in any currency are mirrored in other currencies with the exchange rate applied.

You post in the USD book:

05/06/2025 100 Citi Bank >> Expense

The Exchange Bot detects the exc_code: USD on the accounts or their group, and posts the transaction in the other currency books:

In the EUR book:

05/06/2025 101.12 Citi Bank >> Expense

In the JPY book:

05/06/2025 14,615.60 Citi Bank >> Expense

International wire transfers

You post an international wire from EUR to USD in the EUR book:

05/06/2025 5,000.00 Bank of Europe >> Citi Bank
exc_amount: 5408.75
exc_code: USD

The Exchange Bot detects the transaction properties and posts with the specified exc_amount:

In the USD book:

05/06/2025 5,408.75 Bank of Europe >> Citi Bank
exc_amount: 5,000.00
exc_code: EUR
exc_rate: 1.08175

In the JPY book:

05/06/2025 808,696.57 Bank of Europe >> Citi Bank
exc_amount: 5,000.00
exc_code: EUR
exc_rate: 161.739313539692

Calculating unrealized results

The Exchange Bot calculates currency gains and losses across all books in your collection and posts the results.

Open any book in the collection and select Exchange Bot from the More menu. Set the calculation date and click Gain/Loss to start the process.

Note

First-time users need to authenticate the Exchange Bot before running calculations.

The bot will:

• Create unrealized results accounts (with “EXC” suffix) if they don’t exist
• Post gain/loss transactions to each currency book based on exchange rate differences on the calculation date

Note

When used together with the Portfolio Bot, the Exchange Bot also calculates and posts realized gains and losses from portfolio operations.

Multi-currency accounting template

Explore the template books to see the Exchange Bot in action:

• EUR Book
• JPY Book
• USD Book
• Google Sheets MCA Report

Note

You must place the books into a collection for the Exchange Bot to work.