Expense Report: Entering Expenses in a Foreign Currency

Please use the instructions below when listing any reimbursable expenses not paid in US Dollars (USD). Expenses paid using your One Card (University Issued Credit Card) will automatically post based on the converted amount from the US Bank feed and cannot be changed.

Currently Workday does not have built-in currency conversion so we highly recommend paying non-USD expenses on your One Card whenever possible and allowable per policy.

When you cannot pay with a One Card there are two options for listing non-USD expenses.

List the Expense in USD with Additional Proof of Payment: Since the Currency Conversion process listed below can be time consuming, as an alternative the expense can be listed in USD with proof of the amount paid in USD included on the Expense Line. Proof of payment amount in USD could be an additional attachment or may be shown on the transaction receipt. Additional documentation could be a screenshot of your bank statement with all unrelated information redacted. If you choose to use this method, please add a note in the Expense Line Memo explaining the proof of USD cost is also included.

Manual Exchange Rate Entry in Workday: This process will require that you use our preferred Currency Exchange website OANDA Currency Conversion. 

OANDA will be used to retrieve the exchange rate on the date of your transaction. The actual expense line entry will be very similar to any other reimbursable expense. A Step-by-Step guide for creating an expense report including reimbursable line items can be found at Create Expense Report Guide. 

Once you have added the expense line item and filled in the details of the expense. This includes the Expense Line Date (specific transaction date*), Expense Item, Expense Line Memo, and any receipts.

1. Navigate to the “Currency” field. The foreign currency abbreviation can be typed in (ie: EUR, PEN, AUD) or selected from the drop down. Chose the currency in which the expense was incurred. Currently in Workday the exchange rate will not automatically populate, this will need to be added manually, see step 3.  
2. Enter Amount in Foreign Currency. In “Total Amount” add the foreign currency amount.

3. Find the Foreign Exchange Rate. Go to OANDA Currency Converter, linked above.
   1. Make sure you input the foreign currency on the left side and have USD on the right.
   2. Adjust the calendar to the specific transaction date.
   3. Copy Avg Rate from the “Bid Sell 1” column in the table on right side.
   4. Paste exchange rate in “Currency Rate” field on the Expense Line. Workday will automatically calculate the “Converted Amount” in USD using the entered “Currency Rate”.  

*Expense Line Date; it is important you have the transaction date listed BEFORE you add the currency rate, if you change the date after the rate is input it will erase the Currency Conversion and cause an error. This can be corrected by re-entering the currency rate.

Note, as you add additional line items, they will default to the currency you previously selected as well as the transaction date last used. Each additional line will NOT carry over the exchange rate from the previous line item. It can be helpful to group foreign expenses by date and currency.