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Old 11-20-2009, 12:32 AM
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Tleong Tleong is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by motordavid View Post
Dunno...slept through that part of Money&Banking back in the mid 60s,
though currencies can and are, often "locked" via hedging another
currency or basket of currencies, and often "both ways"...

And, I would bet dinner that BMW hedges currencies. It is almost a must
for international companies like BMW. They are wrestling with Euros vs
USD, (for the most part), along with several other country sales, and
probably use hedging via Current Rate Method, as opposed to temporal method, in accounting.

Even at the lil' company I spent the last 11 years with, we hedged our fannies off, as we had mfg'ng sites
in several countries, with "local" sales, and "companies" set up, accounting-wise, in those countries, around the
world. BMW, et al, are no different; just a lot bigger than we were.

There is risk in hedging currencies, accounting-wise, balance sheet
noise, credit rating and ratios, and of course "translation risk" in
bringing those diverse numbers, from several currency "sources",
together in to a balance sheet that passes GAAP or the euro version
of GAAP. Off the soapbox...but, I bet currency fluctuation keeps
the CFO and his minions, awake some nights, even with hedging.
There will always be some risk when you hedge your position, especially a position as large as BMW's portfolio. As far as accounting practices go, it wouldn't make a significant difference between GAAP and IFRS. Although it would be more efficient if it was one or the other, the cost is so miniscule when looking at BMW's numbers.

As far as locking in the interest rate, I think it's something I will look into.
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