MYOB Premier

{Update: According to Stuart Bale at Xero, multi-currency functionality is slated for release before the end of the first Quarter 2009. Thanks for this update Stuart. Still love the interface.]

One of the challenges Pingar is facing, in common with all exporters - I hate that word - (so let's change it to 'those who engage with the global market') is the need for a foreign exchange strategy.

New Zealand is a small country in a big world. Our currency fluctuates perhaps more noticeably than many others. Fortunately for us, the British pound has shared some of our own weakness and therefore the two currencies have declined largely in parallel against the USD, the Euro and the Yen.

And so it is that I spent this morning installing MYOB Premier V12 onto our accounting system. It will allow us to manage multiple currency accounts and reconcile the impact of forex changes on the business. I had hoped that Xero would have added this functionality to their base platform by now. Unfortunately not, so we have had to settle with our Aussie cousin.

Of course having the system in place to manage the numbers is one thing. Determining the strategy to produce them is another. That's a challenge we will share with our accountant, Mr Meads. In the meantime it is one more training session for the upcoming Xmas season. It will not be the only one.