Can I change an amount in GBP for a dividend paid in EUR?

[chmac]

I paid a dividend in EUR. The dividend was issued in GBP and then paid from a bank account in EUR. When I entered the transaction into my bank, I tagged it as “dividends paid”. I now realise that the amount logged for that transaction in GBP is incorrect. It’s not using the same exchange rate that I used to calculate the dividend.

Is there any way to change this?

One option is that I could instead tag it as a transfer to my “virtual GBP” account, then I could manually set the exchange rate, and in turn pay the dividend from that “virtual GBP” account. However, the transaction is now locked, so I do not have the option to “detag” the transaction.

Any suggestions on potential fixes? I considered adding a journal entry, but where do I make this “extra” money go? I want it to disappear, which doesn’t really work in the “double entry” model of accounting! Is there an account for “accounting errors” or something like that?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[ian_roberts]

When QuickFile does an automatic currency conversion any exchange rate gain or loss goes to “currency charges”, so you could manually journal to the same place yourself.

[chmac]

@ian_roberts Thanks for the fast reply. I don’t really have a “gain or loss” though. I have the wrong amount in GBP. So I’m showing a dividend as more than it actually was in GBP. The exchange rate that was used by QuickFile was not correct (or not the same as the rate I used). So journaling to exchange rate gains / losses would add or remove money from my profit and loss, which is not what I want to do. Especially not in this case of a dividend payment.