I do not have the option of altering the exchange rate on either the in or out bound transfer because they are transfers between a foreign and home bank accounts that are both mine.  If I do not use the actual exchange rate that occurred for each transfer one bank account or the other will not reconcile.  In reality, you do make or loose money after an series of exchanges in and out of a currency. (There are many people who exchange in and out of foreign currencies for that purpose.)  What you need is a transaction that takes the balance in the home currency and moves it to an income or expense, but is not a transaction in the foreign currency.  Is there anyway to do that?  

In my case the foreign bank account is closed and reconciled to zero.  But the balance sheet in dollars shows a permanent balance for that account.