The autumn calendar is one of the ACT’s busiest seasons. We have to support our new September intake of students as they start on their qualifications and we are producing a wide variety of events – whether live or online (via webinar) – both in the UK and the Middle East. We are working on the UK and continental European version of the Deals of the Year Awards, which is run by The Treasurer (nominations will be open until 1 November; for more, see www.treasurers.org/awards) and the ACT Annual Dinner in November. We are also busy with our regional Annual Conference and awards programme for the ACT Middle East (ACTME). ACTME award winners will be announced at the conference in Dubai on 26 and 27 November.
The awards allow us to say that treasurers and their teams are making significant contributions to the operational, tactical and strategic directions of their businesses because their contribution is judged by the hardest audience of all – their peers. In developing markets such as the Middle East, treasurers must overcome the perennial challenges of emerging markets: varying standards of disclosure, legal infrastructure and governance; credit risk and so on. In the developed markets of Europe, treasurers face other obstacles, such as walls of regulation, a constrained banking system and modest economic growth.
Treasurers have fulfilled their roles as guardians of corporate health over the past few years
At the time of writing, more than 600 people (easily an ACT webinar record) had registered to listen to our first webinar on European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) reporting in September. This proves the attractiveness of a webinar to our community and the importance of the EMIR process. (If you missed it, you can find it at www.treasurers.org/derivatives.) There will be further webinars this autumn on EMIR, the Single Euro Payments Area and counterparty risk.
We feel very strongly that a key role of the ACT as a Chartered, professional association is in helping members, students and the wider community to keep up to date with the technical issues and broader business challenges you are facing. In total, more than 3,000 people will participate in and/or attend an ACT event before the end of the year. We are continually working hard to provide challenging and enjoyable opportunities for treasury professionals to learn (and meet their CPD requirements), network, and debate and discuss all the issues driving the profession.
Fortunately, the wonders of technology allow everyone to keep in touch via the ACT student website, the ACT’s Wiki – with over 20,000 hits to date – and membership of our 6,900-strong LinkedIn group. In addition, they get their monthly fix that is The Treasurer magazine plus updates that are regularly posted to The Treasurer’s own website: www.treasurers.org/thetreasurer.
I care deeply about the position, influence and standing of professional treasurers within their companies and the broader business community. The ACT and, in a wider context, the European Association of Corporate Treasurers and the International Group of Treasury Associations, can play an important role in supporting them. Whether they are involved in the Western financial crisis or the growth of emerging economies, treasurers have both fulfilled their traditional roles as guardians of corporate health as well as driven business success over the past few years. In doing so, the profession has demonstrated a maturity and competence that has gradually become visible on the radar of regulators, policymakers and legislators.
Finally, I would like to say how delighted I am with the response to The Treasurer’s reader survey, the results of which were published last month (see page 28 of The Treasurer, September 2013). The survey was an opportunity for us to get your valuable input on how we can improve the quality and breadth of what we communicate to our community. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Colin Tyler is chief executive of the ACT. Follow him on Twitter @ColinTyl
