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The short answer
QuickBooks Online lets a Canadian company keep its home currency in CAD and record bank accounts, suppliers and customers in other currencies once multicurrency is switched on in the company settings. Before you turn it on, confirm in Intuit's Canadian help centre that your plan includes it, that NGN is in the currency list and whether the setting can be reversed. Then add a separate NGN bank account and assign each Nigerian supplier its currency.
What multicurrency changes in your file
Without multicurrency, every amount in QuickBooks Online is a Canadian dollar. A ₦900,000 invoice from a Lagos developer then has to be typed in as whatever CAD figure you worked out by hand, and the naira amount survives only in the description. Multicurrency changes that: the original currency is stored on the transaction, QuickBooks keeps an exchange rate for each entry, and balances held in foreign currencies can be revalued to CAD.
Your home currency stays Canadian dollars. That matches the tax position: the CRA expects corporations to report in CAD unless they elect one of five functional currencies (pound, euro, Australian dollar, US dollar, yen), and the naira is not among them (CRA functional currency page, September 2026).
Before you switch it on
- Back up or export. Export your chart of accounts, supplier list and open bills, so you have a snapshot of the file before the change.
- Check reversibility. In many accounting packages multicurrency cannot be turned off once used. Confirm the position for your file in Intuit's help centre.
- Check your plan. Confirm that your QuickBooks Online plan includes multicurrency.
- Check NGN. When you come to add currencies, confirm the Nigerian naira is listed.
- Tell your accountant. If they use QuickBooks Online Accountant to access your file, agree the change and the rate method with them first.
- Clear the backlog. Reconcile the CAD bank accounts up to date, so any later difference is clearly caused by the new setup.
Setting up the naira side
A dedicated NGN bank account
Create a new bank account in the chart of accounts, set to Nigerian naira, for each naira account you hold. Keep the naira and CAD accounts separate even if they sit with the same provider; mixing them in one ledger account defeats the point of tracking the currency.
Suppliers and customers with a currency
Each Lagos or Abuja supplier you pay in naira should be set up with NGN as its currency. Accounting packages usually fix a contact's currency once transactions exist, so if a supplier sometimes bills in US dollars, set up a second record for the USD relationship rather than switching back and forth.
Exchange rates
QuickBooks supplies rates for many currencies. For tax, the CRA points to the Bank of Canada daily rate, yet the Bank's daily table (23 October 2026) lists 24 currencies and not the naira. Decide which naira rate your file will use and override the default rate on a transaction where your evidence differs, for example where the actual conversion rate is on your account statement. The rate method itself is set out in keeping books in CAD with naira and USD transactions.
A first transaction, step by step
Example only. A Mississauga marketing firm receives a ₦900,000 bill from a Lagos video editor.
- Enter the bill against the editor's NGN supplier record for ₦900,000.
- Enter the rate for the bill date. At an example rate of ₦1,125 per C$1, QuickBooks records C$800.00.
- Pay the bill from the NGN bank account two weeks later. If you used CAD to buy the naira at ₦1,100 per C$1, the payment is worth C$818.18.
- The C$18.18 difference is a realised exchange loss, which QuickBooks posts to its exchange gain or loss account.
Check: 900,000 ÷ 1,125 = 800.00; 900,000 ÷ 1,100 = 818.18; 818.18 − 800.00 = 18.18. How to read and report those lines is in recording FX gains and losses on naira payments.
Month-end habits that keep the file clean
- Reconcile the NGN account against the naira statement in naira, not in CAD.
- Run the foreign currency revaluation at month end with the rate your policy names, and keep a note of it.
- Attach each Nigerian invoice and its payment proof to the transaction; the CRA requires records to be supported by documents and kept in English or French.
- Review the exchange gain or loss account monthly so a mistyped rate (₦11,000 instead of ₦1,100) is caught early.
One more habit helps at year end: keep a short list of every rate override you made during the year, with the reason. When your accountant prepares the T2 return, that list answers most of the questions they would otherwise send back, and it shows a reviewer that the naira figures follow a method rather than whichever rate looked convenient on the day.
Where Pryme fits
A Pryme Business Account holds NGN, USD, GBP and EUR with local account details, which lines up with one QuickBooks bank account per currency. Conversions through Swap show the rate first and the fee on its own line before you approve, so you have the evidence for the rate on each payment. The Finance agent can prepare the matching for you to review; nothing is posted or paid without a person approving it.
Questions people ask
Does QuickBooks Online Canada support the naira?
Check the currency list when you add currencies after switching on multicurrency, and confirm in Intuit's Canadian help centre. We could not open those pages to confirm it for this article.
Can I turn multicurrency off later?
In many accounting packages you cannot once it has been used. Confirm the current position for QuickBooks in Intuit's help centre before enabling it.
What home currency should my Canadian company use?
Canadian dollars for most companies, which matches CRA reporting unless you have elected one of the five permitted functional currencies. The naira is not one of them.
Which naira rate should I enter?
The Bank of Canada does not publish a naira rate, so use a documented method, such as the rate on your actual conversion, and apply it consistently.
Sources
- CRA: Functional currency (modified 14 Sep 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- Bank of Canada: Daily exchange rates (table dated 23 Oct 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- CRA: Your responsibilities and the requirements for the records the law requires you to keep (modified 17 Jun 2025) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.