Foreign Currency

Since the fixed exchange rate regime ended, the impact of fluctuating foreign exchange rates has plagued internal and external users of accounting information. Exchange rate volatility impacts real and reported measures of a firm's business in ways that are complicated and arguably little understood or appreciated by board members, senior executives, analysts, investors and empirical researchers. Foreign Currency: Accounting, Communication and Management of Risks furthers our collective understanding of the measurement and management of foreign currency exposure. To assess how current practice deals with exchange rate volatility, we conducted a detailed field study, consisting of 168 survey responses and 16 interviews with Chief Financial Officers, Treasurers and Controllers (collectively labeled CFOs), to provide systematic answers to four sets of questions related to: (i) reporting; (ii) communication; (iii) budgeting and performance evaluation; and (iv) risk management.

This work is important to academe and practice for several reasons. First, the exhibits created to illustrate the conceptual foundation and the problems associated with foreign currency measurement and management are likely to be useful in learning about these issues both for students and practitioners. Second, the authors show that serious inconsistencies plague the application of foreign currency rates to each line item on financial statements such that most valuations that rely on cash flow data of companies with international operations will contain material measurement error. Third, foreign currency adjustments impact virtually every area of accounting research. Finally, the authors open the black box behind (i) how the translation adjustment number is actually compiled; and (ii) how currency exposure affects capital budgeting, hedging and performance evaluation decisions?