The Questions on Every Treasurer's Mind

Every corporate treasurer is undoubtedly faced (on a daily basis) with the following questions:

1. Where in the world is my cash and what currency is it in?
2. Can I mobilize it?
3. Do I invest or borrow?
4. At the end of the day, was I right and how should I protect myself from tomorrow’s risks?

Why are these questions on the minds of Treasurers? Because market disruptions have increased the visibility of and demands on Treasury. And consequently, the Treasurer is concerned about counterparty exposure, centralization and visibility, forward-looking analysis, data transparency, risk measures and regular policy review – now, than ever before.

These questions will likely go unanswered and these concerns will be hard to mitigate, and most of treasury’s time will be dedicated to managing operational rather than strategic issues, without a treasury management system (TMS). 

Frequently organizations of all sizes trust in spreadsheets to manage many aspects of treasury. But truth be told, spreadsheets do not respect risk, organizational structures and reporting requirements. On the other hand, corporations that rely on treasury technology to facilitate treasury activities are able to control and process activities and transactions associated with workflows, information flows, cash flows and accounting flows, all of which address the key questions and concerns of the Treasurer. In short, a TMS enables treasury to become both efficient (perform today’s tasks better to control today’s risk) and effective (accomplish tomorrow’s tasks, the ones ignored today, to minimize tomorrow’s risks).

The effective use of  treasury technology will provide many of the key elements necessary for treasury to become more strategic. Implementing technology tools and establishing a secure and resilient infrastructure that approaches automation in a holistic manner advances strategic organizational objectives, including global cash visibility, robust risk management, centralization and treasury efficiency. Spreadsheets are flexible and powerful, but they are yesterday’s treasury management systems. And yesterday’s technology is not adequate to achieve tomorrow’s objectives:

1. I know my global cash position in real-time and across all currencies
2. I am capable of mobilizing my cash at a moment’s notice
3. I fully trust my liquidity position and forecast
4. I have confidence in my data and I have comfortably covered tomorrow’s risks

Are you able to answer the aforementioned questions with confidence and certainty?