The ACT’s head office is always a busy one and this a period when much of that activity comes to fruition. This edition features a number of developments. The new, innovative international cash management
e-learning programme has launched and deserves particular praise – you can read about it on page 34 or at www.treasurers.org/cashmanagement. The web team has been busy with the launch of ACTOnline, complete with a Forum for members and others to exchange views on treasury matters. The conference team is dealing with the rush of delegates to the ACT/EuroFinance UK Treasurers’ Conference, featured on pages 39 to 43. And Sheelagh Killen is waiting for the rush of offers to get involved in ‘ContACT’ and ‘Open Floor’ (see page 14).
The postal service has been kept busy on your behalf – members should have received their copies of the new edition of The Treasurer’s Handbook and ACT Members’ Directory in the last couple of weeks.
The Handbook is well worth close inspection. It is a mine of information and statistics to dip into as and when you need it. Highlights include: Treasury Practice, based on the ‘Five Pillars’ of wisdom which form the basis of all those exams which most of you have done; Country Profiles updated to include details of banking, finance, cash management, FX and taxation; Key formulae and tables, including basic market maths, Black-Scholes and variations, and principles of hedging; Statistics such as FX rates, base rates, UK RPI, lending rates; and an Index of all articles appearing in The Treasurer in 2001. If you are a member of the ACT and have not yet received your copy, please contact Ros Springer at rspringer@treasurers.co.uk.
Later this month, we will be starting on the cycle for the 2003 edition of the Handbook, so if you feel there is anything missing, or there are improvements which can be made, now is the time to tell us.
Richard Hodgkinson, who worked for many years on the Handbook, and Frances Rudolph have decided to step down from the Editorial & Publications Committee and I would like to offer them my personal thanks for all their help and support in the time I have been here. Please don’t forget us, as you know, I am always on the lookout for contributors!
Finally, I would like to offer my apologies to those Irish readers and Arsenal fans who were upset by my reference to their respective chances of winning the Grand Slam and Champions League. The comment was meant very much tongue-in-cheek – as an Irish Arsenal fan, I could hardly wish for more. I have been advised to steer clear of sport (as well as religion and politics) but somehow I think I will end up falling at the first hurdle.
MIKE HENIGAN
Managing Editor