In business writing, currency is usually expressed in symbols and numerals (e.g. $10).

Different currencies: When writing about different currencies that use the dollar, you can use:

  • a letter or letters symbolising the country followed the $ sign (A$, US$10)
  • a three-letter country code as specified in ISO 4217:1995 (AUD10)
  • $ sign followed by the country symbol ($A10). I don’t like this method as it  is harder to read, but I see it used in some newspapers.

Spaces or commas between large numbers: You can use spaces or commas as separators in large numbers. For example:

$10,000 or $10 000

I think commas are more common than spaces. What do you think?

Four-digit numerals: Four-digit numerals are never separated by spaces, but some writers use a comma. For example:

$5000 or $5,000

As always, whatever style you choose, be consistent.

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