Several currencies
TabrilloSign in

Expenses in more than one currency

Pay in yen and owe in pounds. Tabrillo takes the rate on the day the expense happened, converts once, and writes both numbers down — so the balance you agreed on this evening is the same balance next month.

Everybody has met the other version: a group total that is slightly different every time somebody opens it, because the app is reconverting at today’s rate. Nobody can settle up against a number that moves.

How does a group with several currencies work?

The group has one currency — the one it settles in — and an expense can be entered in any other. When it is saved, the rate for that day is fetched and frozen onto the expense, and the group’s figure is worked out once. The original amount stays on the row, so the receipt can say “¥12,400, at 188.4 to the pound”.

A balance that drifts reads as a bug

Re-converting on read is the easy way to build this and it is wrong: two people looking on two days see two numbers, and neither can say which one they owe. Frozen at entry, the arithmetic is the same for everybody for ever — and if the rate that day was not the rate you were charged, you can type the one you were.

AnaTokyo, Marchyou owe 67.00
SamFlat 3Bowes you 24.50
MiaTokyo, Marchsettled

One currency to settle in; any currency to spend in.

What about yen, dinars and the ones without pennies?

Every currency ISO 4217 lists, with the right number of decimal places for each. ¥1,000 is a thousand yen and not ten; a Kuwaiti dinar has three places, not two. Money is held as whole units of the smallest denomination, never as a decimal — which is why the shares of an odd split always add back up to the total exactly.

Can I see my own balance in my own currency?

With Pro, every figure carries what it is in yours at today’s rate, for you alone — the group still settles in its own. That one is a convenience and it moves with the market, which is why it is shown beside the real figure rather than instead of it.

Where this comes up most: a trip

Questions about currencies

Can you split expenses in multiple currencies?

Yes. The group settles in one currency and an expense can be entered in any other. Tabrillo takes the rate for the day the expense happened, converts once, and keeps the original amount on the row.

Does the balance change when exchange rates move?

No. The rate is frozen onto the expense when it is saved and never re-applied, so a balance you agreed on does not drift. Apps that convert on read show a different total every time somebody opens them.

What if the rate you used is not the rate my bank gave me?

Type the one you were charged. The rate belongs to the transaction rather than to the moment it was entered, so the figure that goes into the ledger is the one that actually happened.

Does it handle yen and other currencies without decimal places?

Yes — every ISO 4217 currency with its own number of decimal places, including the ones with none and the ones with three. Amounts are stored as whole units of the smallest denomination, so shares always add back up to the total.

Start without an account