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The Translation Of Foreign Currency

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With the idea of increased globalization, and many companies operating as entities in multiple countries, there seems to be an increase in need for the translation of foreign currency in reporting currency so that financial statements can be prepared. Translation of foreign currency is when the amount is simply stated in certain terms without physically changing the currency (Wild & Wild, 2012). There is an issue with this however; the exchange rate for the currency of each nation is not set because it varies continuously within the foreign exchange market. There are two issues that the should be addressed. This involves the translation of transactions, and the translation of financial statements. The translation of transactions happen when a company has operations, or conducts business in a currency different than the reporting currency (Rowan, 2011). As the transaction is logged at the date it is created, it is certain that the historic rate is used, which is in line with the principles of historic cost accounting (Wild & Wild, 2012). Accordingly, non-monetary assets must be re-valued following normal accounting practices. Monetary assets can be translated either by the historical rate, where there is no gain or loss from currency translation, or the closing rate, where any differences between the closing rate and the historical rate are conveyed to the profit and loss account (Doupnik and Perera, 2012). The need for the translation of financial statements occurs when a

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