Each currency has a code which uniquely identifies it (for example, USD, EUR or GBP) a longer textual description and an exchange rate with respect to the default currency.
You can use several different currencies in FreeCoins. Each account you hold can only use one currency. Currency conversions are handled by transferring money between account with different currencies.
There is one 'special' currency: the default currency. Each currency has a given exchange rate with respect to the default currency. This enables FreeCoins to calculate an approximate exchange rate in between any two currencies.
You need to select the default currency when first using FreeCoins
Most of the currency management is handled through the currency editor.
You can access this from the accounts screen by opening the Misc menu.
The currency editor enables you to add create new currencies, and manipulate existing ones. You can select a currency from the list and then edit it. You have the following options:
Setting the currency as default. This will both make the currently edited currency the default one and will recalculate existing conversion rates to reflect this.
Delete a currency
Change the currency code or description
Alter the exchange rate.
Consider this example: GBP is your default currency and your current account is an GBP account. You gave 100 GBP to one of your american friends as a gift and you want to record this information in FreeCoins. What you need to do is setup an account (say 'USD gifts') and transfer money from your current account to the USD account.
You need to record the relation between the amount that leaves your account (100 GBP) and the amount that reaches your friend's account (say 160 USD). This relation is the exchange rate and for FreeCoins the exchange rate represents the number that you need to multiply the default currency by in order to get the new currency. In our case it is 1.6 as 100 GBP * 1.6 = 160 USD.
There are several ways to use and record this information. One of them is to fill in the exchange rates yourself in the currency editor. This will enable you to quickly record transactions when in a hurry without having to work out the exact exchange rate (which in some cases, such when you use credit/debit cards is not know until the transaction clears and you can check your bank statement). An alternative way is to go ahead and record the transaction. Whenever your transaction involves two different currencies, FreeCoins will add a 'Rates' button to the transaction editor. You can use this to calculate one of the following 3 variables (source currency amount, destination currency amount and exchange rate) from the other two. You can also use this dialog to record the currently displayed exchange rate for future use.
In our case, one possible scenario would be that you know that your friend got 160 USD so you record the transaction filling in 100 GBP, 160 USD and then tap Calculate to obtain the exchange rate, which would fill in 1.6. You can record this exchange rate so that next time when you give your friend some money, the exchange rate of 1.6 would automatically be filled in and the amount he receives would be calculated correctly.