# Create a purchase order in a foreign currency

Issue a purchase order in a vendor's currency and know where the exchange rate actually applies.

Source: https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/guides/create-po-in-foreign-currency/
Updated: 2026-10-29

**Prerequisites:** The foreign currency is configured under **Admin → Currencies**, with at least one Exchange Rate entry dated on or before today. The vendor exists. Items have purchase information set up.

**Required permission:** Purchase → Purchase Orders — User or above; Purchase → Vendors — User or above to set the vendor's currency. Admins can edit any order or vendor; Managers and Users only the ones they created.

Use this guide when a vendor invoices in a currency other than your organization's base currency — for example, ordering from a European supplier in EUR when your base currency is USD.

## Set the vendor's default currency (once)

If you always order from this vendor in the same currency, set it on the vendor record so it pre-fills on every new PO.

1. In the sidebar, click **Purchase → Vendors** and open the vendor.
1. Click **Edit**.
1. In the **Currency** field, select the vendor's invoicing currency.
1. Click **Update**.

This step is optional. You can always select the currency manually when creating the order.

## Create the purchase order

1. In the sidebar, click **Purchase → Purchase Orders**.
1. Click **+ Create**.
1. Select the **Vendor**.
1. In the **Currency** field, select the foreign currency (e.g., *EUR*). If the vendor's default currency is set, this pre-fills automatically.
1. Click **Create**. The order is created in Draft status.

## Add order lines

1. Click **⊕** to add an order line.
1. Select the **Item**. Its **Unit Price** pre-fills from the item's purchase information — confirm it's actually in the order's currency (e.g., the EUR price from the vendor's quote), not your base currency.
1. Confirm the **Quantity** and **UoM**.
1. Repeat for each item.

Line **Amount** and the order's **Total Amount** are calculated directly in the order's currency — they are not converted to your base currency for display, and the printed PO/RFQ shows these same currency-of-order figures.

## Send and confirm the order

1. Click **Send** on the bottom toolbar to email the order to the vendor.
1. When the vendor confirms the order, click **Confirm Order**.

## Where the exchange rate actually applies

The order's own **Total Amount** is never converted — it stays in the order's currency, on the order itself and on the printed document, for the life of the order.

The exchange rate matters for internal cost accounting: when a **Purchase Receipt**, **Purchase Restock**, **Service Pick**, or **Purchase Return** is built from this order, each line's unit cost is converted to your base currency using the currency's rate as of the order's **Confirmed Date** — this is what updates the item's weighted-average cost. Because that lookup uses the Confirmed Date each time, and not a rate saved back onto the order, editing the Confirmed Date after confirmation would change which historical rate gets used going forward.

Changing the exchange rate under **Admin → Currencies** after the order is confirmed does not retroactively affect any Receipt, Restock, Service Pick, or Return already built from it — only ones built afterward.

## Troubleshooting

**Confirm Order is refused with "Currency has no effective exchange rate as of confirmed date":**
The order's currency has no Exchange Rate entry dated on or before the day you confirm it, so Tooling Metrics doesn't confirm the order and it keeps its status. The same check refuses moving a confirmed order's **Confirmed Date** to another day, or changing its currency, when the new day or currency has no rate. Go to **Admin → Currencies**, open the currency, add a rate dated on or before that day, then click **Confirm Order** again.

**A Purchase Receipt, Purchase Restock, Service Pick, or Purchase Return built from a confirmed order has no lines and shows the same message:**
The rate that was in effect on the order's Confirmed Date has been deleted since. Tooling Metrics can't cost the order's lines, so the document's form lists none; at a WAP terminal, the page shows an error instead. When confirming the order creates a Purchase Receipt, Purchase Restock, or Service Pick automatically, nothing is created, and a notification tells the person who confirmed the order. Add a rate dated on or before the Confirmed Date, then create the document again from the order.