My Odoo Accounting liquidity transfers have the wrong exchange rate. How do I fix this?

If you transfer money between bank accounts in different currencies, an incorrect exchange rate can leave the wrong sterling value in your accounts.

In Odoo, you may find that editing the liquidity transfer appears to save your correction, but the underlying accounting entry still shows the original amount. Here’s how to investigate and correct it.

Why does the transfer have two values?

Odoo records foreign currency bank transactions in both the bank account’s currency and your company’s base currency. For a UK business using GBP as its base currency, a US dollar transaction therefore has both a dollar amount and a sterling equivalent.

When checking a transfer, you need to review both figures. The foreign currency amount may be correct while its sterling equivalent needs correcting.

Why hasn’t my change saved?

You may initially spot the problem by opening your Balance Sheet, clicking into the relevant account and reviewing its Account Transactions.

From there, you might open the liquidity transfer, amend the currency conversion and click Save. However, in the situation covered here, returning to the account transactions shows that the underlying accounting values have not changed.

If this happens, you need to review the journal entry behind the transfer.

How to correct the liquidity transfer

Menu labels and available actions can vary depending on your Odoo version and access rights.

1. Open Accounting and go to Journal Entries.
   Filter for the relevant bank journal, then locate the transfer using its date, reference and amount.
2. Review the foreign currency and base currency amounts.
   Open the entry and inspect its journal items. If necessary, display the Currency and Amount in Currency columns alongside the debit and credit values.
3. Open the entry relating to the foreign currency side.
   Depending on your screen, you may be able to access it by clicking the foreign currency amount or the linked journal entry.
4. Select Reset to Draft.
   Where this action is available, it takes the entry out of its posted state so that you can make the correction.
5. Correct the base currency value.
   Keep the foreign currency amount consistent with the actual bank transaction and amend the sterling equivalent to the correct amount. Check that the entry remains balanced and that any bank fees are recorded separately. See example here
6. Save and post the entry again.
   Once you have checked the figures, repost the entry and complete any reconciliation required.
7. Check the result.
   Return to the Balance Sheet and account transactions. Confirm that the corrected value now appears, both bank accounts agree to their statements and the transfer’s clearing entries reconcile correctly.

If Reset to Draft is unavailable, the entry may be restricted by your permissions, an accounting lock or its reconciliation status. Ask your accountant to review the restriction before proceeding.

Need help correcting foreign currency transfers?

An incorrect conversion can affect your bank balances, exchange gains and losses, and management accounts.

Spondoo Accountants helps UK businesses resolve Odoo accounting issues, including foreign currency transfers, bank reconciliation differences and incorrect journal entries.

If your liquidity transfer still shows the wrong sterling value after you save it, contact Spondoo through spondoo.co.uk. We can review the underlying entries, correct the accounting treatment and help keep your bank balances accurate.