Foreign Currency

3230.10—Collections

Foreign currencies collected by entities will be delivered promptly into the custody of Accountable Officers for credit to accounts of the Treasury unless otherwise directed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The term "collections," for the purpose of these regulations, does not include foreign currencies acquired by the United States by purchase with dollars.

Examples of non-purchased currency acquisitions:

The Accountable Officer will maintain records showing the collections, by source, and indicating the miscellaneous receipt accounts or other accounts in the Treasury to be credited with dollar proceeds from sale of the foreign currencies, and such further classifications as may be needed to indicate exchange which can be used only for restricted purposes. Accountable Officers will be advised by the collecting entities of the source of collections and any restrictions on the use of the foreign currencies in order that the foregoing records may be maintained.

3230.20—Guaranty Funds

The requirements prescribed in this Treasury Financial Manual chapter are applicable to all foreign currency acquired by the United States under guaranty provisions of Section 1011 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1442), except that receipts of such foreign currency will be deposited in the foreign currency accounts of the U.S. Treasury.

3230.30—Depositaries

Foreign currency which is held by Accountable Officers for account of the Treasury will be maintained only in depositaries designated by the Secretary of the Treasury. Foreign currency acquired by Accountable Officers by purchase or otherwise, which is not immediately disbursed but is held by such officers for their own account or for the account of any entity, will also be maintained only in depositaries designated by the Secretary of the Treasury. Unless otherwise directed by the Secretary, Accountable Officers are not required to have separate depositary accounts for foreign currency held for the account of the Treasury. Accountable Officers may carry foreign currency as cash outside depositaries only pursuant to authority granted in accordance with TFM Volume I, Part 4A, Chapter 3000.

Deposits in and withdrawals from foreign currency accounts maintained with depositaries in the name of the U.S. Treasury will be made only as directed by the Secretary.

3230.40—Withdrawals from Treasury Accounts

Foreign currency will be withdrawn from accounts of the Treasury on the books of Accountable Officers or from the foreign currency accounts carried with depositaries in the name of the U.S. Treasury, only for the purpose of: (1) sale for dollars, or (2) transfer to entities for authorized purposes, without reimbursement to Treasury, as required by law. Such transfers will be made only by direction of the Secretary. An entity requiring foreign currency from Treasury will submit a request to the Secretary, indicating the amount of exchange required, in units of foreign currency, and the name and location of the Accountable Officer to receive the exchange. To the extent practicable and desirable, standing authorizations will be given for withdrawals from accounts of the Treasury.

3230.50—Transfers Without Reimbursement

When foreign currency is to be obtained from Treasury without payment of dollars, the entity concerned will furnish written certification that the exchange may be used without reimbursement to Treasury, citing the relevant legal authority. In cases where international agreements or Office of Management and Budget allocations specify the programs for which foreign currency may be used, Treasury may transfer foreign currency to entities without requiring a certification.

Foreign currency so allocated is part of the entity's fund balances maintained by Treasury; therefore, for total accountability, the foreign currency should be included in the financial statements as part of the Fund Balances and Investment of the U.S. Government, with an explanatory footnote as to the use and availability of the currency, e.g., "not available for the payment of general obligations."

3230.60—Unfunding

Public Law 89-677 authorizes unfunding, which allows a USDO to use foreign currency held by entities to meet the foreign currency needs of other entities. The unfunding process provides that, when entities receive foreign currencies that are not immediately needed for entity program expenditures, the Accountable Officers or authorized agents must unfund all affected program accounts before purchasing foreign currency commercially. As a result of this, each entity should record a receivable transaction to its GL, indicating that this amount represents the U.S. equivalent of foreign currency owed to the entity by Treasury.

The purpose of unfunding is twofold: It makes use of foreign currency not currently needed by the entity program, and it delays the expenditure of U.S. dollars to purchase foreign currency.

To unfund all affected accounts, an Accountable Officer must reclassify funds using the CARS Classification Transactions and Accountability (CTA) module. Through this process, the Accountable Officers:

If necessary, to reimburse the borrowed foreign currency, the Accountable Officers may purchase the foreign currency commercially with U.S. dollars. It is important to note that these foreign currencies credited to specific entity program accounts are initially acquired without the expenditure of U.S. dollars. They may be host-government contributions or loan repayments, for example.

3235.10—General

The procedures prescribed apply to all foreign currencies in which the United States has an interest, including receivables and country-owned "counterpart" funds, except currencies held under the dollar accountability of Accountable Officers. Foreign currencies held under dollar accountability will continue to be reported at the exchange rates prescribed for computing charges and credits to dollar receipt, appropriation, and fund accounts.

For reporting purposes, financial transactions and balances for which the basic value measure is foreign currency units will be translated to U.S. dollar equivalents at Treasury Reporting Rates (Sub-section 3235.20c). Unless otherwise provided, this rule applies to all types of transactions and balances including, for example, receipts and disbursements, accrued revenues and expenditures, authorizations, obligations, and receivables and payables. Refunds and similar reverse-transaction items shall be translated for reporting purposes at Treasury Reporting Rates prescribed for the period when the refunds occur without regard to the rates applied to the original transactions. Adjustments will be shown as necessary to record the effects of exchange rate fluctuations.

3235.20—Exchange Rates

3235.20a—Agreement Rates

Agreement rates are the rates provided in international agreements regarding the number of units of foreign currency corresponding to a given dollar amount for the purpose of effecting collections of currencies. To the extent that such rates are not otherwise available to Treasury, collecting entities will furnish the agreement rates promptly after the close of each month for purposes of translations.

Foreign currency collection transactions which are generated under international agreements will be translated at agreement rates unless otherwise determined by Treasury in consultation with the entities concerned. Refunds (return) of collections will also be translated at agreement rates if the related collections had been stated on that basis. (Adjustments will be shown as necessary to record the effects of differences between the agreement rates applicable to collections and the Treasury Reporting Rates applicable to balances).

3235.20b—Selling Rates on Withdrawals from Treasury Accounts

Concerning the sale of foreign currency held in accounts of the Treasury, the payment in dollars will be calculated at the rate of exchange that would otherwise be available to the United States for the acquisition of the foreign currency for its official disbursements, unless otherwise determined by Treasury in consultation with the entities concerned. When the rate that would otherwise be available to the United States is not readily ascertainable, entities must consult with Treasury (see Contacts). The dollar proceeds realized from the sale of foreign currency will be credited to the appropriate receipt, appropriation, or fund account on the books of Treasury. The dollar payment for foreign currency purchased will not be charged as appropriation expenditure until the foreign currency is disbursed.

In the case of foreign currencies sold for dollars, the sales transactions will be stated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the day of sale; that is, the dollar equivalents of reported sales will equal the dollar proceeds of the sales.

3235.20c—Treasury Reporting Rates

Treasury Reporting Rates are the rates at which most foreign currencies are to be translated under provisions of these regulations. In general, the rates will be published by Treasury on the first working day of each quarter and will represent the latest available Treasury prevailing rate in each country. The rates published at the beginning of a quarter will be applicable to closing balances of the preceding quarter, and to transactions and balances in the ensuing quarter, but not to balances at the close of such quarter. For example, the rates published on April 1 would be applicable to balances as of March 31, to transactions for April, May, and June, and to balances as of April 30 and May 31. The rates published on July 1 will govern the balances as of June 30.

Balances as of the close of a month and opening balances of the succeeding month must always agree. The published rates will be rounded to four digits past the decimal. For countries where fluctuations in Treasury prevailing rates are minimal, par or mean rates may be prescribed. Amendments to the quarterly rates will be published during the quarter to reflect significant changes in the quarterly data such as rate changes of 10 percent or more, the establishment of new currencies or demonetization of currencies. Treasury will monitor the fluctuation of currencies on the 15th and 30th calendar days of each month, respectively.

In the case of third-country conversions (the conversion of one foreign currency to another), the Treasury Reporting Rate will be applied to the payment side (the currency released) and the same dollar equivalent will be used for the currency acquired, thereby "washing" the dollar effect of the conversion transaction. (An adjustment will be shown as necessary to record the difference between the dollar equivalent so derived for the currency acquired and the dollar equivalent derived by translating the acquired currency at the Treasury Reporting Rate for the country of acquisition).

3235.20d—Uniform Exchange Rates

Translations of foreign currency units to U.S. dollar equivalents will be made at exchange rates which are uniform throughout the government with respect to specified categories of accounts or transactions, and with respect to given periods of time as specified in section 3235.20c.

3235.30—Loans and Certain Other Receivables

These procedures are applicable to loans and to other receivables with original maturities of one year or more (referred to as loans) which are:

For loans denominated in currency units or otherwise fixed as to the number of currency units receivable, the current value should equal the fixed number of units receivable translated at the Treasury Reporting Rate prescribed for the date of the balance. For loans denominated in dollars under maintenance of value agreement, the current value should equal the outstanding dollar denominated amount multiplied by the ratio of the agreement rate to the Treasury Reporting Rate. Both rates will be as of the date of the balance.

In addition to current values, statements of loans outstanding will generally show historical values which relate the balances to the transactions which generated the loans. The differences between historical values and current values will be shown as valuation adjustments.

Reporting requirements for loans and certain other receivables are described in TFM Volume I, Part 2, Chapter 4500.

3240.10—Conversion of Currencies

FS Form 6911 "Foreign Currency Conversion and Transfer Voucher" will be used by entities for reporting the amount of foreign currencies (in Treasury X7000 accounts) available in excess and near excess currency countries for conversion to currencies of another country or to dollars. Where the supply of a non-restricted currency is great enough to more than meet U.S. requirements for the next two years (exclusive of requirements financed by restricted or reserved currencies), the currency is designated as excess by the Department of Treasury. Where the supply of currencies is above the immediate needs of the U.S. Government but not sufficient for the country to be declared excess, the currency is designated as near-excess by the Department of the Treasury. Conversions are limited to loan repayments under Title I of Public Law 480, under agreements stipulating two percent convertibility. Amounts available under these agreements, as well as any future agreements with convertibility provisions, should be submitted to Treasury on FS Form 6911 each time the balance of convertible currencies in any excess or near excess currency country reaches the U.S. equivalent of approximately $10,000. When the FS Form 6911 is received in Treasury and where the U.S. holdings of a particular currency warrant, Treasury will transmit the form to the disbursing officer for necessary action. The FS Form 6911 will be submitted in an original and one copy to Treasury (see Contacts). The forms should be numbered consecutively, prefixed by the entity code (e.g., 72-1, 72-2, and so forth).

3245.10—System of Foreign Currency Fund Accounts

All accounts are identified with applicable fund groups and classified within fund groups through the assignment of alphanumeric symbols, the last three-digits of which will be assigned within the blocks shown in the following table. For the purpose of this sub-section, these three-digits of the symbol will be referred to as the "main symbol." The symbol assigned to an account is determined after consideration of the government's relationship to the source of the receipt and the availability of the currency for expenditure or other purposes. An "X" immediately preceding the main symbol is used to identify foreign currency funds which are handled outside the regular dollar accounts of the government. A three-digit index number is assigned to identify the entity responsible for the account. This index number is included as the first three-digits of the symbol assigned to an account by Treasury. When one entity administers all or part of a program on behalf of another entity, the account will show both entity index numbers. The first three index numbers designate the performing entity, and the next three index numbers designate the authorizing or parent entity.

Foreign currency account symbols and titles will be assigned in accordance with guidance issued in TFM Volume I, Part 2, Chapter 1500: Description of Accounts Relating to Financial Operations.

3245.20—Foreign Currency Fund Account Classifications

3245.30—Sales Accounts

There are two general types of sales accounts as follows:

3245.40—Program Accounts Not Requiring Appropriations

Program accounts not requiring appropriations are established for restricted currencies which are available for use only in connection with particular programs. These currencies are authorized to be expended without charge to dollar appropriations of entities. Within this group, symbols are assigned as follows: (1) main symbols from 500 through 599 are used primarily to designate United States use accounts, and (2) symbols from 700 through 899 are used primarily to distinguish country use accounts.

3245.50—Holding Accounts

Holding accounts are used generally when the specific availability of currencies is not known at the point of collection. When the availability is determined, Treasury issues transfer authorizations moving the currencies from the holding account to one of the three categories of accounts described above.

3245.60—Advances of Unfunded Foreign Currencies Account

This account (20X7900) is a special type sales account administered by Treasury for the purpose of making available all foreign currencies acquired, including currencies dedicated for specific programs (not requiring appropriations), by authorizing the use of these currencies for any program, subject to replacing such currencies when needed for the specific program.

The X7000 files will be used by disbursing officers to report their X7000 accountability and transactions.

Detailed instructions on the preparation and distribution of the X7000 file accountability are contained in Part IV of the Foreign Affairs Manual issued by the Department of State with the concurrence of the General Accounting Office and the Department of the Treasury.

Direct inquiries concerning this chapter to:

Funds Management Division 
Room 102 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service

FCReports@fiscal.treasury.gov

Direct inquiries concerning the ATB and GTAS to:

Financial Reports and Advisory Division 
Room 3602A 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service

gtas.teams@fiscal.treasury.gov 
ATB and GTAS Contact List

Direct inquiries concerning USSGL reporting to:

Financial Reports and Advisory Division 
Room 3602A 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service

304-480-5129 
304-480-5176 
USSGL Contact Link