Three major activities occupied my time in the past month: we ran a very successful conference at the Celtic Manor, we formally joined the EACT (European Associations of Corporate Treasurers) and we held our annual offsite ‘Planning Day’.
The Treasurers’ Conference is I believe now established as the key event for all involved in the profession. We had record numbers attending this year – up 45% from 2004 – and outstanding support from sponsors and exhibitors. The vital ingredient in making the event a success is of course the work done to put together a strong and attractive set of topics and speakers. Our in-house event management team work very closely with the Programme Committee and a panel of volunteer advisors – and I think we have this balance of input just right.
Those of you that attended will I hope have found it all professionally useful and indeed enjoyable – from the keynote addresses through the breakout sessions and the topic specific roundtables, the opening night barbeque, the dinner with Gareth Chilcott as guest speaker and of course the golf. We are listening carefully to the feedback we have had and this is guiding our planning for next year.
It will not surprise you to know that organising The Treasurers’ Conference is like painting the Forth Bridge – as soon as we completed this year’s event the planning began for 2006. I have already reviewed an outline programme and we are talking about speaker names and the likely topics.
I have for some time been involved in EACT meetings, with the ACT in effect an unofficial member of what has hitherto been an organisation limited to Euro-zone participants. The EACT has now redefined itself as EU-wide and at their May meeting I made a presentation on the ACT in support of our proposed membership.
I am delighted that we have now joined. There is no doubt in my mind that the interests of our members can be better supported by working cooperatively with other European treasury associations, most especially in all areas that are impacted by EU policy development and debate.
Dealing with the EU Commission is not easy at the best of times. By working together on issues that affect the practice of treasury, financial risk management and corporate finance we can better communicate, explain – and lobby – in Brussels and elsewhere. An excellent example of this is the work the EACT is doing to make input into the development of SEPA (the single euro payments area), which is of considerable relevance to practitioners everywhere. We can benefit from this work whilst also being an active contributor.
My third preoccupation during May has been our Planning Day. Once a year we gather all of Council (including any committee chairs who are not themselves members of Council) and the ACT management team for an offsite meeting. We do not travel very far for this – National Grid Transco very kindly hosted the meeting at their offices on Trafalgar Square.
We had an extensive agenda this year – perhaps too ambitious a one. We were looking at the operation of the ACT’s committees, the governance structure, some specific issues on our professional qualifications (including an external presentation on how learning methods are changing) and finally our strategic plan. Although we were spreading our attention widely, I believe it was a useful day.
Strategy should be the most important part of such a meeting; the discussion confirmed our commitment to maintain the influence and relevance of the ACT, our determination that professional qualifications should remain central to what the ACT stands for and our belief that we can be increasingly effective in the international arena across the whole range of our activities. I hope we will soon be able to show members and other stakeholders what this high level overview of our strategy means in practice, as we move to the most challenging part of all – delivery of what we have agreed!
