Guides 18 October 2026 5 min read

Dinar and dollar: invoicing in two currencies

Quote in dollars, collect in dinars, and the numbers stop matching. Rules for rates, rounding, receipts and statements that keep both currencies straight.

By the PearlFibers Team

You quote a client 1,000 dollars. Three weeks later they pay in dinars, in cash, at a rate the two of you agree on that morning. Your salesperson says the invoice is settled. Your accountant's report says part of it is still open. Both are looking at the same records.

Many Iraqi businesses price in US dollars and collect in Iraqi dinars, or in a mix of the two. The Central Bank of Iraq sets an official rate, and the rate in the market can differ from it. So "the rate" is a choice someone in your company makes every day, and the numbers stop matching when that choice is not written down.

The mistake behind numbers that never match

The root mistake is storing one number and converting it later with whatever today's rate is. The invoice is saved as "1,000 dollars". Every time someone opens a report in dinars, the system multiplies by the current rate. Last month the report valued that invoice at one figure, this month at another, and next month it will move again. Nothing happened to the invoice. Only the report changed.

A spreadsheet does the same thing when it has one cell for "today's rate" that every row refers to. Change the cell and the whole history changes with it.

Five rules that keep two currencies straight

1. Every invoice has one currency. Dollars or dinars, never a mix of lines.
2. The rate used is written on the invoice and stored with it. If the invoice shows an equivalent in the other currency, it also shows the rate and the date. That stored rate does not change afterwards.
3. A payment in the other currency records its own rate. The amount received, the currency received and the rate on the day of payment are saved together. If the value differs from the invoice, the gap is booked as an exchange difference on its own line, where it can be seen.
4. Balances are kept per currency. A client owes you so many dollars and so many dinars. Those are two balances.
5. A statement shows each currency separately. If the client wants a single total, give it at a stated rate and date, and label it as an equivalent.

Write the rate the same way everywhere: dinars per one dollar, or per 100 dollars as the market quotes it, but not both in one set of books.

A worked example

This is an example. The rates are invented, and deliberately far from any real rate, so that the arithmetic stays easy.

• On 1 March you invoice a client 1,000 USD. Your rate that day is 2,000 dinars per dollar, and the invoice says so.
• On 20 March the client pays 2,000,000 IQD in cash. Your rate that day is 2,500, so the cash is worth 2,000,000 ÷ 2,500 = 800 USD.

Whether the invoice is settled depends on one sentence in the contract:

The same invoice and the same cash give two different answers, and only the contract can say which one is right. In both cases the system keeps three facts about the payment: 2,000,000 IQD, the rate of 2,500 and the date. No report opened next year will alter them. How the exchange difference is treated in your accounts is a question for your accountant.

Rounding to 250 dinars

In practice the dinar has no fractions, and the smallest banknote in circulation is 250 dinars, so every dinar amount gets rounded somewhere. Decide the rule once. For example: totals are rounded to the nearest 250 dinars. At the invented rate of 2,000 dinars per dollar, an invoice total of 12.30 USD converts to 24,600 IQD, which is rounded down to 24,500 IQD, with 100 IQD shown as rounding.

Write the rule down and apply it everywhere: in the system, on printed invoices, on receipts and at the cash desk. Round once, on the invoice total and not on every line, and show the rounding as its own line so that the invoice still adds up. Then the invoice, the receipt and the cash drawer agree.

Quotes, contracts and cash receipts

Many arguments about the rate begin before the invoice exists. A quote or a contract should state three things:

• the currency of the price;
• the currency or currencies in which payment is accepted;
• which rate applies and on which day: the invoice date or the payment date.

Then cash. Every payment gets a receipt in the currency that was received, with the amount, the date and the invoice it belongs to. If 2,000,000 dinars came in, the receipt says 2,000,000 dinars. The dollar equivalent belongs in the system, next to the rate that produced it. Where the wording of a clause has tax or legal consequences, ask your accountant before you sign.

Two questions to ask of any software

Whether it is an accounting package, a billing platform or a system built for you, put two questions to the vendor and ask to see the answers on screen:

1. Can it store the rate per document? Each invoice and each payment should carry its own rate and date.
2. Does it ever recalculate history? Open an old invoice, change today's rate, and open the invoice again. If any stored figure moved, old reports cannot be relied on.

We made the same point about stored rates when describing what automated billing looks like when it is done right.

Putting the rules into a system

PearlFibers bills its own clients for their service subscriptions through Loop, which generates invoices, tracks payments and keeps statements and a payments ledger per client. Clients see their invoices, statements and payment history in a portal. If you are considering it for your own billing, put the two questions above to us first. When the way your company trades in two currencies is specific to it, the rules belong in a system built around them. Our software development work covers business platforms for contracts, billing and reporting, with accounting exports. If your dinar and dollar figures do not agree today, tell us how you invoice now, and you will get a written scope with a price before any commitment.