Ask a non-treasurer to list the skills and knowledge associated with the role of the treasurer, and attributes such as numeracy and technical knowledge would feature highly. Such skills are the bedrock of any financial professional and they are highly sought after, as can be seen from the fact that the Association of Corporate Treasurers has recently enrolled its 10,000th student.
But in this highly demanding and highly competitive world, it is clear that treasurers cannot rely on such traditional skills alone if they are to succeed in the top flight.
This issue of The Treasurer reveals the winners and the highly commended for the 2005 Deals of the Year Awards. Spend any time reading about the transactions that have featured in the Deals of the Year and it soon becomes apparent that the modern treasurer needs a whole armoury of talents, some of which are only learnt through years of doing the job.
It is clear that all the deals featured required patience from both the treasurer and others. In one case while the idea was sound the market was not ready and the company had to bide its time before it could do the deal. For another winner, the timescale was 18 months from starting the process to completing the deal, and the transaction had to be rethought and recast to meet difficulties and obstacles along the way.
None of these deals would have taken place without teamwork both within the organisation and between the company and its advisors. One of the most overworked words in this profession is ‘relationship’. The word is tossed about carelessly but at other times it barely starts to describe how professionals from a variety of backgrounds – treasurers, bankers, City advisers – have to come together to create something unique and of immense value for the company and its stakeholders. Listen to what leading treasurers say about how they have succeeded and the message comes through loud and clear: they have spent time choosing advisers with whom they can work, with whom they can accomplish the task and whom they can trust.
Capping all this is something else. The element that most nontreasurers would not understand is the creativity needed to secure these deals. It is this aspect which treasurers find hard to define and to describe but it is clear that this element is needed in increasing measure these days. The creativity, the lateral thinking, the knowledge of what is possible as opposed to what has been done before, the vision allied with technical knowledge and sheer determination – these are the elements which have to shine through to win one of the Deals of the Year Awards. Creativity is an attribute that all treasurers should aspire to.
PETER WILLIAMS
Editor
See Deals of the Year, page 33
