It would be great if you QF could add digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum to the list of serviceable currencies.
Thank you for your suggestion. Digital currencies are a bit of a problem as unlike any other currency they are not limited to just two decimal places.
e.g. £1 = 0.00187473 BTC
Our system (like most accounting systems I would expect) are locked down to handling monetary amounts up to 2DP. If you need to record sales of BTC, ETH, LTC etc I’m afraid the values of each transaction would need to be converted to Sterling before entry.
If it’s any consolation we are integrated with BitPay so you can receive payment on your invoices in BTC. It’s just the amounts will be converted to GBP before they are entered into your ledgers.
Thanks Glenn.
Just a follow up question. Is it possible to change the accounting currency from GBP to USD?
You can create invoices and purchases in currencies other than GBP, however all base reporting is in GBP. In that respect QuickFile is really only suitable for businesses based in the UK at the moment.
We have some general info on the multi-currency tools in QF here.
Thanks again for your reply. I believe this feature of switching to USD as a base currency may of useful even in the UK. We are a UK company and submit our account in USD.
My company owns and trades some Bitcoins, and I need to reflect that in my accounts. In the multicurrency settings Quickfile only allows to choose from a pre-determined lest of currencies and Bitcoin isn’t one of them.
Would it be possible to add if not specifically Bitcoin, then just a user-defined currency, even if I would need to enter exchange rate manually?
I read it on this forum one of the issues is that Bitcoin is often traded in quantities having multiple decimal digits. This could be mitigated, for example, by introducing milliBitcoin which is currently around £2.
I will need to find a solution or workaround within a year or so, or otherwise I won’t be able to fully handle my accounts which will be a shame as Quickfile has been a great service for me in every other respect.
Thanks!
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Hi @vlad1
Thank you for your suggestion.
We’re certainly happy to look at this further providing there is enough interest from the community. Some of these things seem simple in principle but are quite complex in the background.
We’ll leave this thread open and monitor interest going forward.
Hi, do you know if there has been any development on my earlier request?
Either of two solutions would do:
- Ability to enter currency exchange rate manually instead of automatic feed from XE, or
- Ability to set up new foreign currencies.
I’m afraid I will need to sort out my accounting earlier than in a year, and if it is unlikely that any of these features will be implemented, I will have to change the accounting solution (which I don’t want to do at all).
Thanks!
One of the problems Bitcoin presents over traditional currencies is the potential for unlimited divisibility. Currently I believe they can be divided down to 8 decimal places, but this could be extended with consensus from the network. Taxes are reported in Pounds/Pence or Dollars/Cents (if you’re in the US). Most accounting systems are geared up to handle these 2 decimal place currency denominations.
This doesn’t mean you can’t account for digital currencies like Bitcoin in QuickFile, it just means that for each transaction you’re recording the GBP equivalents with the BTC amount in the reference or notes. There’s a bit more detail on this here.
Although we have supported Bitcoin payment systems like BitPay for some time now, there are some significant hurdles to fully accommodate BTC denominated accounts and invoices. We are not likely to solve these issues in the near to mid term and given the work involved we would really need to see wider adoption and demand from other users.
It’s probably not the answer you were hoping for, but I hope it explains some of the technical challenges.
If you are looking for Exchange rates we are the largest provider over at https://bitcoinaverage.com/. Our API: https://apiv2.bitcoinaverage.com
We would be happy to work with the Quickfile team if there are custom requirements, custom endpoints/development etc.
Thanks @shaun.g. We currently use rates supplied by BitPay as we integrate with them:
Please take a look at my other thread i made today, as this integration isn’t working 
Please also note that bitpay’s rates are their own best bids, this is for their merchants to use, not an accurate global exchange rate. (this factors in their fees and risks whilst they hold and sell the bitcoin they process.)
Hi, This issue is coming up for me too.
It doesn’t work for me to convert the bitcoins to £ because I am lending bitcoins to the company, and as they’re increasing in value dramatically, I’m loosing out.
I could always lend the money on an as needed basis, but it makes it all rather complicated.
Having said all that, as a non-accountant, Quickfile is a brilliant piece of software. Well done and thank you.
I suspect the solution would be to use the Satoshi - the next division down of the Bitcoin. There are 100,000,000 Satoshis to the bitcoin - not an elegant, but a workable solution?
I am also interested to see crypto currencies supported in Quickfile. I am not a trader, but a developer, who sometimes gets paid or pays business costs in crypto currencies.
Do you have any tips on how can I book these type of costs/payments?
Examples from my recent business activities:
I invoiced in GBP => get paid in EUR
I invoiced in GBP => get paid in ETH
I got invoiced in ETH => I paid in ETH