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FX Initiative Blog

Actionable insights on foreign exchange risk management from FX Initiative.

The 5 Stage FX Trade Lifecycle

The 5 Stage FX Trade Lifecycle (Video): Discover the top treasury functions employed by global corporations when executing foreign exchange (FX) risk management strategies. This video is a preview of FX Initiative’s FX Risk Management course as part of Learning Objective #1.

 

To learn more, 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.

 

Mapping Currencies Across Countries

Mapping Currencies Across Countries: It is evident that no one single world currency exists. There are over 180 currencies recognized as legal tender in circulation throughout the world. The most widely used list of currencies is known as ISO 4217, which is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization or the ISO. The ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations, and the ISO 4217 currency codes shown in this interactive map are used in banking and business globally.

While many of us are familiar with the “Major” currencies, which include the euro, British pound sterling, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, United States dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen, there are so many more currencies to explore. This interactive map helps you explore the world through the lens of currency. All 180 currencies in circulation are mapped using geographic coordinates and ISO 4217 currency codes. Simply click on the dots on the map to reveal the ISO 4217 currency code, currency name, country.

To learn more about conquering currency risk, 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.

 

Hypothetical FX Hedging Simulations

To become proficient in any skill, including currency risk management, practice makes perfect. To help companies practice, 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.

August 2022 Newsletter

August FX Analyses: Explore our newsletter and discover the latest blog posts and insights from FX Initiative. We help finance, accounting, treasury, and sales professionals stay up to date with new training content, CPE webinars, and helpful tips & resources.

Get started with our foreign exchange risk management training, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples and events at FXCPE.com. Start Training >

 

Sharing Feedback & Suggestions (Survey)

FX Initiative remains committed to continuously enhancing our foreign exchange (FX) risk management training. To complement the transition from in-person meetings to online environments, we are working on improving our suite of FX topics and tools to better serve your currency risk management needs safely and remotely.

We are listening closely to our audience of finance, accounting, and treasury professionals with the goal of providing innovative FX risk management training and tools. Help us improve by sharing your feedback regarding what you like about our FX training and how we can do better. Take our short survey: https://www.fxcpe.com/feedback >

White Label FX Web Applications

FX Initiative's white label web applications are designed to help treasury professionals and FX sales teams with a wide variety of foreign exchange (FX) risk management challenges and opportunities. Whether you are creating a FX risk policy or analyzing economic and accounting scenarios, our risk models and strategy simulations share best practices in easily understandable formats.

Examples include:

  • FX Risk Policy
  • FX Terms Glossary
  • ISO Currency Codes
  • Foreign Subsidiaries
  • FX Revenues
  • FX Expenses
  • FX Receivables
  • FX Payables
  • FX Spot Transactions
  • FX Forward Contracts
  • FX Option Contracts
  • FX Zero Cost Collars

 

Our white label web applications are branded with the client's logo and embedded as an iframe into the client's website. An iframe is one of the most convenient HTML structures, and is an embedded window on the client’s web page that shows content hosted on FX Initiative’s servers. In 4 simple steps, our solutions can be deployed on the client's website quickly and easily with minimal technology resources.


Learn More

Recognizing FX Revenues & Receivables

Recognizing FX Revenues & Receivables (Video): Explore the economic and accounting similarities and differences between forecasted and booked foreign exchange (FX) transactions using the FX Transaction Simulator tool.

 

To learn more, 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.

 

Simulating Foreign Exchange Strategies

In the field of foreign exchange (FX), companies are managing currency risk exposures and hedging strategies more effectively by using business intelligence (BI) tools that provide data analysis and visualization. To support global businesses, FX Initiative offers a unique suite of specialized simulation tools that model common FX risk management strategies and demonstrate best practices for preserving assets on the balance sheet and mitigating FX gains on losses on the income statement.

Our FX Transaction Simulator helps treasury professionals gain valuable insight by modeling the economic and accounting impact of specific hedging strategies for underlying foreign exchange exposures such as revenues, expenses, receivables, and payables. Users can simply input their company specific and foreign exchange market variables, and then test a variety of hedging strategies, which include 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. The first step 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. The third and final step 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.

By leveraging our suite of FX risk modeling tools, finance, accounting, and treasury professionals can address a wide variety of FX scenarios that can be customized 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 FX Transaction Simulator acts as your own personal quantitative analyst, and puts you in a position to make more qualified foreign exchange risk management decisions.

To start simulating FX strategies, 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.

Currency Learning Center

As the end of August approaches and schools are back in session, FX Initiative offers access to our online Learning Center for paid training and free content to help your company conquer corporate currency risk management safely and remotely. Explore our FX articles, videos, courses, tools, and webinars. Our goal is to help sharpen your FX skills, contribute to your professional development, and add to your firm’s performance and profitability.

Explore FX Learning Center >

We look forward to sharing more FX updates and insights with you in 2020 and beyond. Whether you are new to foreign exchange or a seasoned professional, continue following FX Initiative for your FX risk management formula. To learn more, 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.

Back-to-School Suggestions

As the school year approaches with pandemic related changes to the classroom environment, FX Initiative remains committed to continuously enhancing our foreign exchange (FX) risk management training. To complement the transition from in-person meetings to online environments, we are working on improving our suite of FX topics and tools to better serve your currency risk management needs safely and remotely.

We are listening closely to our audience of finance, accounting, and treasury professionals with the goal of providing useful and innovative virtual learning and business resources to keep organizations engaged online during the pandemic and beyond. Help us improve by sharing your feedback regarding what you like about our FX training and how we can do better. Take our short survey: https://www.fxcpe.com/feedback >

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