It is not often that I find myself crying with laughter. It is even less often that I find myself crying with laughter at a treasury event. But that’s precisely the position I found myself in at the ACT Annual Conference last month. Those treasurers reading this who also attended the event in Glasgow will probably guess which speaker was responsible for sparking my guffaws – it was none other than Guy Browning, humourist, columnist and creative director of innovation agency Smokehouse. (If you want to see a website that offers something a bit different from the usual corporate puff, check out www.smokehouse.co.uk) Browning’s overriding message about innovation was that, if what you’ve got ain’t simple, then you obviously haven’t tried hard enough. You can find out more about what he – and other speakers – had to say in our conference highlights feature, starting on page 18. And if you turn to the back page of this issue, you’ll discover that I wasn’t the only journalist whom Browning inspired. Our Month End columnist Andrew Sawers appears to be equally enthused.
Turning to more serious matters, our cover star this month is Lucie Harwood, group treasurer of FTSE 250 technology company Laird. She has plenty of experience of doing business in emerging markets and managing exposure to the Chinese renminbi. She also belongs to a comparatively elite set of people since she is the female group treasurer of a listed company, a position she achieved at a young age. She reflects on why more women don’t make it to the top in treasury in our profile interview, starting on page 22.
This month, we bring you our regular cash and liquidity management supplement, starting on page 27. It is packed with informative features, including analysis of the link between cash and strategy, advice on setting up an in-house bank and case studies written by practising treasurers.
We also take an in-depth look at supply chain finance in a series of three articles. For more, turn to page 46.
Finally, The Treasurer is your magazine, so your feedback is vital to its continuing success and development. With this in mind, we are launching a reader survey for you to share your views.
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I hope you enjoy this issue of The Treasurer and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
