In a year that has seen the continuation of a global pandemic, a war on mainland Europe and a spike in inflation not seen for 40 years, it’s not surprising that the Association of Corporate Treasurers’ (ACT’s) annual The Business of Treasury research finds a treasury community focusing on the value of core skills, good people and a flexible approach to strategy creation.
A session at May's ACT Annual Conference in Liverpool looked in depth at some of the findings from the 2022 survey. Chaired by ACT chief executive Caroline Stockmann, the session heard Ian Chisholm, group treasurer at property group Grosvenor, reflect on the scramble to respond to the new paradigm of post-COVID-19 working.
“The external environment has presented a whole other number of risks that we need to manage, and understanding what treasurers need to spend their time on is crucial,” he said.
“It may be that there’s a technology project to deliver, but what’s going on out in the world makes that much harder. So, it’s the classic toss-up between the urgent and the important – understanding and managing that is going to be crucial.”
And the attributes needed to address that – experience, judgement, technical skill and the perspective to use it wisely – have traditionally been acquired, at least in part, around the office, sitting in on meetings and generally absorbing the necessary knowledge to do the job.
Delegates at the conference heard that treasurers looking to progress in the profession are increasingly frustrated by the barriers they face, in particular acquiring strategic and leadership skills as well as understanding the wider business operations.
Some worry whether an increasingly fractured working dynamic with less face-to-face interaction will still allow that development to take place. Simon Neville, former group treasurer at household goods group Reckitt Benckiser, ACT council member and now an adviser at fintech consultancy Taulia, fears it may not.
“The next generation needs to learn, and the best way to do that is to shadow, ask questions and be part of a team, and that’s hard to do when you’re not in the same room as other people. How we balance that with a flexible working environment is a really pressing question.”
Given that the research shows that recruitment and retention of good people is now by some distance the leading challenge facing treasurers, it was unsurprising that much of the discussion focused on creating an environment where team members felt they could thrive.
For Linda Williams, group treasurer at aerospace and defence group Meggitt, the focus has been on creating a culture that embeds both a focus on high performance and an awareness of wellbeing. “We try to make Meggitt a great place to work and it’s up to leadership to treat people as they want to be treated, that their voice is heard and their contribution is rewarded,” she said.
Treasurers also reveal that once again they are under pressure to cut costs. They face competing priorities of balancing investment in skills and technology with keeping costs under control. “You can’t do everything, and if you’re being asked to do more, then something has to give, which means everyone has to be aligned to the same set of priorities,” said Williams.
But treasurers in the front line now have increasing opportunities to influence broader strategy. “The recent volatility has elevated the importance of treasury as a whole,” said Chisholm. “Crises are in our space: that’s where we earn our money – so it’s a good time to be a treasurer.”
This discussion took place at the ACT Annual Conference held in May in Liverpool. The 2023 ACT Annual Conference will be held on 16-17 May 2023 in Newport, Wales, UK and you can register your interest to attend here: https://www.treasurers.org/events/conferences/annual-conference-23
Christian Doherty is a freelance journalist and a former editor of The Treasurer
