Whether it’s international conflict and political uprising in the Middle East or natural disaster in the shape of tsunamis and earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, the world is an uncertain place. On a more mundane scale, the economic outlook looks equally unpredictable, with the search for growth becoming a frustration.
It is a natural human reaction amid such volatility to try and see what we can manage and what can be brought under our control. Hence the emphasis in so many of this month’s articles on risk and cash management. The more uncertain the outlook, the more we wish to discern what will come looming out of the fog ahead.
Of course, there are many reasons why cash management and risk management remain such serious and pressing topics for treasurers. Despite all the other elements of finance and business to which treasurers have turned their considerable expertise and experience, it is on the issues of cash and risk that the board and the rest of the business are really relying on the treasurer to put in an outstanding performance.
While the profession may know that it can offer much more than cash and risk management expertise, it is essential at this time to ensure that the fundamentals are properly in place in your organisation. So much has changed – and continues to change.
Against a backdrop of the credit crisis and the recession, many companies are seeking to secure a future by entering new markets, often far away and very different from where they first set out. As globalisation turns into a reality for many businesses and the requirement to export turns into an imperative for many more, the need to become familiar with cash and risk practices in many different places is rapidly confronting more treasurers.
The ACT knows this trend well and is holding events and training courses in territories where it has not previously had a presence. The logic is simple: any commercial transaction needs the backup of trusted cash and payment services. As business becomes international, professional qualifications such as the ACT’s provide assurance and knowledge to ensure that the wheels of commerce and trade can turn across the world.
Events prove just how little control governments, business or individuals actually do have. Treasurers and their colleagues have to work in a world where control, visibility and efficiency are characteristics which are most notable by their absence. Our response to challenges and difficulties should be to ensure that we look after those areas that are in our gift to the best of our ability and with the professionalism that the ACT qualifications instil.
PETER WILLIAMS
EDITOR
