My Meta ad account bills in USD but I think in AED: which currency should the spend be in?

The currency list does not convert anything

The Campaign performance calculator has a currency list with SAR, AED, USD and others, plus a no-currency option. It only puts the currency code next to the results; it does not convert the amount. Type 1,500 and pick AED, and the calculator works as if you spent 1,500 AED. Converting is a step you take before you enter the figure.

Example: one campaign, two currencies

A campaign was shown 50,000 times and got 1,000 clicks and 30 orders. Meta's invoice says 1,500 USD; your card statement says 5,550 AED was taken.

Now say your average order is 200 AED. Read the CPA of 50 against your AED prices and the ads look very cheap, when each order really cost 185 AED, close to the whole order value. That is the classic mixed-currency mistake: a correct number in one currency read as if it were in another.

Why use the amount actually charged

• Your bank may add a conversion fee or use an exchange rate that differs from the one a search engine shows.
• It is the money that actually left your account, and the figure that will appear in your monthly expenses.
• A month can include several charges at different rates, and their AED total is the accurate figure for the period.

The steps

1. Add up the ad platform's charges for the period from your card statement in AED, or log them in the Expense summary generator to total them by currency and month.
2. Copy impressions, clicks and orders from the platform report for the same period.
3. Enter the spend in AED and pick AED in the currency list so the right code appears beside the results.
4. Compare CPA with your AED prices and profit, or move to the ROAS calculator to work out return using sales value in the same currency.

If all you want is to compare two ads inside Meta with each other, working in USD is fine, as long as both are in USD. The error only happens when a figure in one currency meets a figure in another in the same comparison.