This example shows how to set up QuickBooks and FormCalc for the task described above. If you need more basic information about the setup steps, please see the FormCalc Tutorial.

Overview

The island nation of Cyprus is beginning the process of a currency changeover from Cypriot pounds to euros, the currency of the European Union. Part of the changeover process involves familiarizing the public with how the euro relates to the more familiar pounds in terms of value. To help accomplish this, businesses will be required to show amounts on invoices and sales tickets in both euros and pounds during the changeover period.

Mr. Kleanthous runs a small import shop in Cyprus, dealing mostly in imported foods and specializing in international cheeses. His prices are entered in QuickBooks in Cypriot pounds, so he needed an easy way to show euros on his QuickBooks sales forms in addition to pounds, which are already shown by default. He turned to FormCalc as an easy solution to this problem.

Besides not having to grab a calculator to do the exchange rate calculation each time he creates an invoice or sales receipt, Mr. Kleanthous really appreciates not having to type the calculated result back into this QuickBooks forms. He knows that typing mistakes and number transpositions could cause lots of headaches...what if a customer finds that an invoice total shown in euros doesn't "match up" with the total shown in pounds at current exchange rates? Sometimes even a misunderstanding over small things can result in the loss of a customer.

The steps below show how to set up QuickBooks and FormCalc to additionally display euros--or any currency, for that matter--on the QuickBooks sales receipt form. (The steps for doing this on an invoice form are nearly identical.)

QuickBooks Setup

Add a new QuickBooks Item to the Items list, to use as a FormCalc trigger item. When this Item gets used on a sales receipt form, its location will tell FormCalc where to display the sales receipt's total in euros. (The total in pounds will be displayed by in the usual location on the sales receipt, since Mr. Kleanthous' prices are entered in pounds.) 

Make the Item a Service-type Item and name it TotalEuros, and supply a Description like "Invoice total, in euros."

Open the Invoice form, then customize the form template where you want euros displayed. (This should be the template you use when entering data on the Invoice form.) On the Columns tab, check the box to include the Other 1 field, and give it the name Amount (euros):

Here's how the resulting QuickBooks Invoice form columns might look. Note that Amount (euros) is column 5 and Amount is column 6.

FormCalc Setup

Enter the TotalEuros trigger Item on the Trigger Items tab. (It will be referenced when setting up one of the FormCalc Actions, below.)

Choose a Layout tab to use for this sales receipt form, then add an Action to calculate amounts in the Amount (euros) column. Use the "Calculate a column, from one column & a number" Action type. On each line, this Action multiplies the Amount (column 6) by a "number"--the exchange rate for converting pounds to euros (1.7353 when this was written)--and writes the result in column 5, the Amount (euros) column.

Add another Action to the Layout, to calculate the sales receipt's total in euros.. This time, simply use the "Total or subtotal" Action type to total column 5, the Amount (euros) column. Choose the option to show results in the "native" column, which simply means that the total for Amount (euros) will show at the bottom of that column.

Finally, associate the TotalEuros trigger Item with the "Total or subtotal" Action you just added. (Begin by double-clicking in the Trigger Items for this Action column of the Layout tab's main window.)

When you are done, the Layout tab's window should look something like this, depending on the Action Names you assigned, etc.

Processing the QuickBooks Form

Here is the detail area of one of Mr. Kleanthous' sales receipts, before invoking FormCalc. Besides the three product sales Items, note the TotalEuros item on the last line. Its sole purpose is to serve as a trigger Item to show FormCalc where to display a total for the Amount (euros) column.

Here is how the same form will look after processing by FormCalc using described Layout created earlier. (Red has been added to show the form information calculated by FormCalc):

The sales receipt now meets all the requirements for displaying euros--in the Amount (euros) column, all on the TotalEuros trigger item line--and is ready for printing to present to the customer.

Final Notes...

With this setup, there's one crucial requirement for day-to-day use:  the exchange rate number in the FormCalc layout needs to be updated daily or whenever the exchange rate changes, to keep the euros amounts shown on QuickBooks sales forms current and correct!

Also, note that several setup variations are possible. For example, besides calculating the Amount (euros) column, FormCalc could have calculated a Price Each (euros) column to show the per-item price in euros.

Finally, if any of the above steps were unclear to you, maybe you lack a basic understanding of how FormCalc works. If so, the fastest way to understand FormCalc is to work through the FormCalc Tutorial.

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