A rebounding dollar could spell big trouble for multinationals that don't have a good handle on their foreign currency exposures

While most corporate treasuries focus their efforts and resources on FAS 133 compliance, the most difficult accounting challenge they face is FAS 52, accounting for foreign currency revenues and expenses. Treasuries may not like FAS 133, but they do closely control the FAS 133 debits and credits. Not so for FAS 52, which is bound to become a much bigger issue when the U.S. dollar turns the corner and appreciates.

In fact, most treasuries have no knowledge of how well their company's general ledger or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system actually accounts for FX transactions. They simply assume that the FAS 52 multicurrency accounting is proper. As a user outside the ERP black box, it is difficult for treasury to detect any systemic misapplications because they are often partially offsetting, obscuring the true magnitude of the company's FX risks.