Blog

rss

FX Initiative Blog

Actionable insights on foreign exchange risk management from FX Initiative.

Simulating FX Hedging Strategies

To become proficient in any skill, including currency risk management, practice makes perfect. To help companies practice in 2021, FX Initiative’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Simulator addresses a wide variety of FX scenarios by stress-testing hypothetical FX hedging strategies.

This interactive risk modeling tool illustrates the economics and accounting of the most common hedging strategies for underlying foreign exchange exposures such as revenues, expenses, receivables, and payables. You can simply input your company specific and foreign exchange market variables, and then select your hedging strategy, which includes not hedging or hedging with a forward contract, vanilla option or zero cost collar.

The resulting output is a highly detailed interactive FX risk analysis that charts the economic payoff of your selected hedging strategy, ranks the alternative hedging strategies, and reports the accounting journal entries and t-accounts with authoritative references to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Behind the scenes, our robust pricing engine and database simplifies the risk analysis process for you so you can focus on the bottom line impact to your business.

This versatile tool transforms 16 inputs into one information rich analysis in 3 easy steps.

  • Step 1 is to select (1) the Underlying Exposure and input the related variables of (2) Functional Currency, (3) Foreign Currency, (4) Underlying Notional Amount, (5) Beginning Exchange Rate, (6) Currency Quoting Convention, (7) Start Date, (8) End Date and (9) the Day Count.
  • Step 2 is to select a (10) Hedging Strategy and input the related variables of (11) Hedge Ratio %, (12) Domestic Interest Rate, (13) Foreign Interest Rate, (14) Implied Volatility, and (15) the Collar Range.
  • Step 3 is to forecast (16) the ending exchange rate to see how positive and negative changes in exchange rates impact the cash flow and financial reporting of your selected hedging strategy.

This FX risk management web application customizes strategies and can be modified efficiently and effectively. For example, if you want to change your underlying exposure or hedge strategy, it’s as simple as one-click. If you want to know which strategy yields the best outcome, all 4 strategies are ranked for you automatically. If you want to see how the default or elective accounting treatment differ, the journal entries and t-accounts are instantly presented side-by-side. This Foreign Exchange Transaction Simulator acts as your own personal quantitative analyst, and puts you in a positions to make a qualified foreign exchange risk management decisions.

To begin practicing hypothetical FX hedging, start your FX risk management training today, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples & events at FXCPE.com.

CPE Webinar Invite: FX Risk Management Policies

Program Overview

FX Initiative cordially invites you to attend our webinar titled “FX Risk Management Policies” on Thursday, February 11th, 2021 at 11AM Pacific / 2PM Eastern. Join us for a continuing professional education (CPE) program and earn CPE credit as we learn how to draft a corporate foreign exchange risk management policy. This FX Risk Policy webinar will address the basics for drafting a foreign exchange risk management policy. We begin with best practice policies for pricing and booking foreign exchange (FX) transactions that enable a corporation to retain the FX risk rather than the customer, supplier or vendor. We then discuss how FX personnel, resources and operations are incorporated into a policy document that serves as a guideline for managing foreign exchange risk. Furthermore, we will cover the essential elements of a formal written FX risk management policy, including which FX exposures to hedge, how to handle counterparty credit risk, segregation of duties (SOD), internal controls, and reporting among other areas. Lastly, we will observe how FX risk policy language is disclosed in corporate annual reports (10-K) using the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of multinational corporations as real-world examples.

Learning Objectives
  1. Discover best practice policies for pricing and booking foreign exchange (FX) transactions.
  2. Recognize how to incorporate FX personnel, resources, and operations into a policy document.
  3. Identify the essential elements of a formal written corporate FX risk management policy.
  4. Explore how FX risk policy language is disclosed in corporate annual reports (10-K).
Who Should Attend?

New and seasoned finance, accounting, treasury, and related professionals (CPA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, etc.) interested in international business.

CPE Webinar Invite: Mastering Currency Risk Management

Program Overview

FX Initiative cordially invites you to attend our webinar titled “Mastering Currency Risk Management” on Thursday, January 28th, 2021. Join us for a continuing professional education (CPE) program and earn CPE credit as we address the fundamental concepts of corporate foreign exchange (FX) risk management. This informational session will share best practices on how to identify, analyze, execute, and optimize a foreign exchange (FX) risk management program. Participants will learn how to assess a firm’s FX risk profile using a step-by-step analysis framework, the four approaches for managing FX risk, the impact FX risk has on the financial statements, and key terminology and takeaways for building a world class FX risk management program.

Learning Objectives
  1. Discover how leading multinational corporations identify foreign exchange (FX) risk, including transaction, translation, and economic risk.
  2. Explore how to analyze FX risk management strategies, including balance sheet hedging, cash flow hedging, and net investment hedging.
  3. Identify key considerations when executing FX risk management plans, including the importance of strategy, policy and financial reporting.
  4. Recognize approaches to optimizing FX risk management plans by investing in personnel, resources, and operations to improve results.
Who Should Attend?

New and seasoned finance, accounting, treasury, and related professionals (CPA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, etc.) interested in international business.

2021 Program: Currency Risk Management Training

FX Initiative is pleased to present our 2021 program on currency risk management training to our global audience of finance, accounting, and treasury professionals. Download the PDF brochure and discover our foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE) training videos, software tools, and webinar topics at FXCPE.com.

Our mission is to help global businesses and sales professionals communicate FX risk management best practices efficiently and effectively. FX Initiative is a member of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) National Registry of CPE Sponsors, and approved for self-study, internet-based, and in-person programs.

 

Since 2010, FX Initiative works with Fortune 500 companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and FX product & service providers on understanding, identifying, assessing, and mitigating currency risk. FX Initiative is an unparalleled resource for foreign exchange risk management and continuing professional education.

Managing currency risk remains a high priority for global organizations in 2021. To optimize your firm's international operations, start your FX risk management training today, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples & events at FXCPE.com.

 

FX Initiative End-of-Year Feedback

FX Initiative End-of-Year Feedback: Help us enhance your experience using FX Initiative in 2021 and beyond! Thank you for supporting our mission throughout 2020 to teach FX risk management best practices. Please share what you like about our FX training and how we can do better.

Take our short survey here: https://www.fxcpe.com/feedback >

 

Webinar Series: Multilateral Netting

Program Overview

FX Initiative cordially invites you to attend our webinar titled “Multilateral Netting” on Thursday, December 10th, 2020 at 11AM Pacific / 2PM Eastern. Join us and learn the fundamentals of multilateral netting for intercompany cash flows. This Multilateral Netting webinar will help you learn the fundamentals of multilateral netting. Multilateral netting, also referred to as intercompany netting, is a process in which a group of cashflows between a defined set of entities are offset against each other such that just a single cashflow to or from each entity takes place to settle the net result of all cashflows. When a multinational company has divisions in a number of countries, direct billing in many currencies can lead to excessive foreign exchange (FX) trading, resulting in both buying and selling the same currencies many times over. This educational program will help participants learn the concept of multilateral netting for managing intercompany cash flows, how netting operations are centralized and cyclical, how netting can reduce payment volume and save FX costs, as well as several key treasury related benefits of deploying multilateral netting.

Learning Objectives
  1. Identify the concept of multilateral netting for managing intercompany cash flows.
  2. Explore how global intercompany netting operations are centralized and cyclical.
  3. Discover how multilateral netting can reduce payment volume and save FX costs.
  4. Recognize several key treasury related benefits of deploying multilateral netting.
Who Should Attend?

New and seasoned finance, accounting, treasury, and related professionals (CPA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, etc.) interested in international business.

Happy Thanksgiving from FX Initiative!

Happy Thanksgiving from FX Initiative! We’re thankful for our wonderful team members and clients.

To our valued team members, we are grateful for all you’ve done for our business this year. All of your hard work, dedication, and resilience has helped us reach our organization’s goals for 2020. On this holiday, we want to make sure you know how much you’re appreciated as a member of our team and how much we value your contributions.

To our valued clients, we want to share our genuine appreciation with you. Without you, we would not be where we are today, and we’re so thankful for all of your support throughout unprecedented times in 2020. We hope you have a joyous holiday and we look forward to serving your foreign exchange risk management needs well into the future.

On behalf of FX Initiative, we wish you, your family, and loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

End-of-Year Foreign Exchange (FX) Education

With 6 weeks remaining in 2020, take advantage of end-of-year foreign exchange (FX) education by completing our 6 part foreign exchange risk management training program. Whether you need to research a foreign exchange educational topic related to your global business, or want to simulate a foreign exchange risk management strategy using our interactive examples, we offer a wide array of quality informational topics and tools that can help you manage FX risk.

FX Initiative is designed to make complex foreign currency matters simple and manageable, and is accessible 24 hours a day 7 days a week to meet your global business needs whenever and wherever a foreign exchange opportunity arises so you can make the right decisions to meet your FX objectives.

FX Initiative helps Banking & Treasury Professionals answer FX risk management questions such as:

  • How to manage currency risk?
  • How to draft a FX risk policy?
  • Where to look for FX risk exposures?
  • What currency risks to hedge and how?
  • Which strategies meet FX hedge objectives?
  • What are the economics?
  • How to do FX accounting?

Get acquainted with all of the educational topics and interactive examples available exclusively to subscribers. We encourage you to start by watching our 6 part online video series, then review and test with quizzes and CPE exams, and reinforce learning using real-world examples. Throughout your learning experience, feel free to visit our terms glossary and frequently asked questions for clarification or contact our support department for help along the way.

Student Subscribers have access to the following 6 one-hour long currency risk management educational videos, as well as review quizzes, CPE Exams, CPE Credits, and Certificates of Completion:

  1. Foreign Exchange (FX) Market Overview
  2. FX Risk Exposures
  3. FX Risk Management
  4. FX Spot & Derivatives
  5. Hedging FX Transactions
  6. Hedging Foreign Subsidiaries

Professional Subscribers have access to all Student benefits, plus access to our complete suite of interactive examples to help reinforce learning concepts and model risk management strategies:

FX Initiative training is available 24/7 365 to help you with FX risk policies, FX accounting, FX hedge strategies, and everything FX risk management related. Controllers and consultants alike can enhance their foreign exchange policies and procedures and simulate common hedging strategies using our collection of tools to clarify complex issues in real time to predictably mitigate currency risk when transacting across borders.

FX Initiative is focused on foreign exchange and continuously strives to deliver world class foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples and events on currency risk management. To take advantage of end-of-year foreign exchange (FX) education, start your FX risk management training today, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples & events at FXCPE.com.

Webinar Series: Balance Sheet Hedging

Program Overview

FX Initiative cordially invites you to attend our webinar series. Join us and learn how to hedge FX receivables & payables and mitigate FX gains & losses. This Balance Sheet Hedging webinar will teach you how to hedge foreign exchange (FX) receivables and payables to mitigate FX gains and losses on the Income Statement. We will begin by defining the concept of a balance sheet hedge, and explore why is it often viewed as the foundation of many corporate FX risk management programs. We will break down the impact of how FX receivables and payables, which are known as underlying positions, produce FX gains and losses on the financial statements from mark-to-market accounting treatment. We will then explore how to offset those underlying FX gains and losses on the Income Statement by hedging with forward contracts to reduce periodic earnings volatility. Finally, we examine best practices for optimizing balance sheet hedges by considering details such as accounting booking rates, netting of exposures, and adjusting hedges as balances change from cash inflows and outflows.

Learning Objectives
  1. Discover the concept of a foreign exchange (FX) balance sheet hedge program.
  2. Recognize how FX receivables and payables impact the financial statements.
  3. Explore how forward contracts can be used to mitigate FX gains and losses.
  4. Identify best practices for optimizing and adjusting balance sheet hedges.
Who Should Attend?

New and seasoned finance, accounting, treasury, and related professionals (CPA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, etc.) interested in international business.

Webinar Series: FX Forward Contracts

Program Overview

FX Initiative cordially invites you to attend our webinar series. Join us and learn what forward contracts are and why they are the most used derivative. This FX Forward Contracts webinar will explain what forward contracts are and why they are the most used foreign exchange (FX) derivative among multinational corporations. We begin with a basic understanding of over-the-counter (OTC) foreign currency derivatives that are sold by commercial banks as part of their international treasury and risk management products. We will then delve into the fundamentals of forward contracts, including long and short positions and forward point premiums and discounts. Additionally, we will examine the payoff profile of a forward contract and review the economic cash flow and financial reporting implications. To conclude, we will look at the overwhelming popularity of forward contracts using the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) FX data as well as highlights from the annual reports (10-K) of several multinational corporations that deploy forward contracts to hedge currency risk.

Learning Objectives
  1. Discover the concept of over-the-counter (OTC) foreign currency derivatives.
  2. Identify what forward contracts are and how forward points are calculated.
  3. Recognize the payoff profile, economics and accounting of forward contracts.
  4. Explore why forward contracts are the most used FX derivative by corporations.
Who Should Attend?

New and seasoned finance, accounting, treasury, and related professionals (CPA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, etc.) interested in international business.

Newsletter Signup