Agency with EU/US Clients: Multi-Currency Accounting Done Right

More and more Ukrainian agencies work with clients abroad: companies in the EU and the US pay in dollars or euros, while the team, rent, and taxes are all in hryvnia (UAH). That's great for revenue, but it creates a distinct financial headache — multi-currency accounting. As long as you keep everything "roughly in hryvnia, by eye," profit becomes fiction: the rate moves, conversions eat into your money, and it's unclear how much you actually earned.

Let's unpack why several currencies complicate the books and how to run them so you can see real profit. For a broader look at multi-currency for business, see Multi-Currency Accounting for Small Business.

Why multiple currencies complicate accounting

When all the money is in one currency, accounting is simple: revenue minus expenses. The moment income comes in dollars and expenses go out in hryvnia, a question appears that has no single answer: which currency do you measure the result in? A dollar today and a dollar a month from now are a different number of hryvnia, so the same project can look more or less profitable depending on when and at what rate you "convert" it.

Add accounts in different currencies, conversions between them, and receivables in dollars — and without a system the picture becomes opaque.

Problem 1. Which currency to measure profit in

The key decision is to choose a base currency for your accounting. For a Ukrainian agency that's almost always the hryvnia, because that's what you pay salaries, rent, and taxes in — and it's in hryvnia that your real result is measured. Income in dollars is converted to hryvnia at the rate on the transaction date. That gives you a single yardstick on which you can compare projects and see profit, instead of "some in dollars, some in hryvnia."

Problem 2. FX / exchange-rate differences

The second difficulty is FX / exchange-rate differences. A client signs a project for $5000 when the rate is 40, and pays when it's 42. You received 10 thousand hryvnia more than expected — not because you did better work, but because of the rate. These differences need to be separated from operating profit; otherwise you credit yourself (or lose) money that actually depends not on your work but on the currency market.

How to run multi-currency accounting correctly

The right approach comes down to three things. First — keep accounts in their own currencies (the dollar account in dollars, the hryvnia account in hryvnia), don't mix them. Second — record the rate on the date of each transaction, so the conversion to hryvnia is honest. Third — see FX differences as a separate line rather than "smeared" across profit. Then you see, at the same time, how much you really have in the currency, how much that is in hryvnia, and how much the rate added or took away.

Example: a project in dollars, expenses in hryvnia

An agency takes on a $5000 project. Its costs (team, contractors) are 140 thousand hryvnia. On the start date the rate is 40, so revenue "on paper" is 200 thousand hryvnia, and expected profit is 60 thousand. But the client pays net-30, and on the payment date the rate has moved to 41: 205 thousand actually came in. Operating profit is the same 60 thousand (that's down to the work), plus an FX difference of +5 thousand (that's down to the rate). If you don't separate them, you'll think the project "earned 65" and bake that into your expectations — and next time the rate might subtract those 5, and the plan won't add up. Separating them shows the truth: how much the work delivered, and how much the currency did.

Where to start

Choose a base currency for your accounting (for a Ukrainian agency — the hryvnia), keep currency accounts in their own currencies, and record the rate on each transaction date. That alone will give you an honest picture of profit. To see how it looks in practice with the dollar, the hryvnia, and even crypto, read Multi-Currency USD/UAH/Crypto in Finmap. And don't forget that the cost of serving a client also needs to be counted in your base currency (how to do it).

In Finmap, accounts in different currencies, rates on transaction dates, and FX differences are handled automatically — so real profit is visible both in the currency and in hryvnia. Try it free for 7 days.