QuickBooks 2009 and Enterprise Solutions can print checks in currencies other than the US dollar (USD), with a few words of caution. Each time you attempt to print checks in a currency other than the USD, QuickBooks will display the warning screen shown below. To continue with the printing process, you’ll need to click Ok. There’s no obvious way to turn the warning off, so you’ll see it once each time you print checks from a foreign bank account.
Note that the warning says that QuickBooks only supports printing on “US dollar check templates and other currencies may not match” that template. You can simply order checks for your foreign bank accounts that do match the US dollar check template.
If your preprinted check for each foreign bank account matches the US check template, your checks denominated in a foreign currency will print fine. For example, the normal QuickBooks voucher check prints the check amount to the right of the payee with a pre-printed currency symbol ($ for USD) at the left margin of the check amount. For a check in a foreign currency, QuickBooks will print the 3 letter currency abbreviation before this amount; if you want a currency symbol to appear at the left margin of the check amount, you’ll have to order pre-printed checks with the symbol for the currency used by each bank account.
Checks will print using the currency for the bank account from which you make the payment, provided the currency for the bank account is either the same currency as the vendor or your home currency. If your vendor transacts in a foreign currency and you record payments from a foreign bank in that currency, your checks will print in that currency. If USD is your home currency and you issue these payments from a USD bank account, QuickBooks will record the bill payment for the amount converted to USD at the exchange rate entered when paying the bill. But you can’t pay a vendor transacting in EUR with British Pound Sterling (GBP) if your home currency is USD.
Therefore, when paying foreign bills in a foreign currency, be sure to select the correct A/P Account and bank Account on the Pay Bills window. If you don’t select the correct A/P Account, the bill won’t appear in the window; if you don’t select the correct bank Account, you’ll make your payment in your home currency.
If you inadvertently make payment from the wrong bank account, you can easily fix the error by opening the Bill Pmt – Check transaction for that payment and changing the Bank Account.
QuickBooks will prevent you from changing the Bank Account to an account denominated in a currency that doesn’t match the customer/vendor or that isn’t your home currency.
So, if you make sure your check template for your foreign bank matches the US check template and you’re paying foreign vendors in their own foreign currency from a bank account using that same currency – all easy-to-manage considerations, your foreign currency checks will print just fine.