Over the last few years treasurers have surely witnessed enough drama in the world of business and commerce to last them a career lifetime. First the credit freeze, then the banking and financial crisis, followed smartly by a sharp, but sadly not very short, recession. And then just when you might have thought it was safe to put your head above the parapet, governments decide it is their turn: the US undergoes the misery of a downgrade and the euro zone is convulsed. The ACT’s outgoing chief executive Stuart Siddall warns that there is more to come and it would be a brave treasurer who bet against him.
A sign of the times has been the re-emergence in recent years of the British government’s Second World War poster Keep Calm and Carry On. Its message is as apposite for the treasurer as anyone else. As Siddall points out, treasurers are superbly positioned in the vital task of ensuring their organisations are well protected against the market volatility that threatens to sweep in from any and many directions.
But while the defences need to be well entrenched, treasurers must not forgo the chance of seeing and seizing the opportunities. If the developed world is to recover its confidence and fortune the most obvious route is through trade. The exchange of goods, services and people on an open basis is the only way to get the interconnected global economy moving again in the right direction.
Treasurers have a vital role to play in making those wheels of commerce and industry turn for the benefit of all. In the middle of September the ACT held a half-day conference in Manchester focusing on international trade and export. The conference made clear there were barriers to selling more and selling it overseas but treasurers are well placed to ensure that companies can overcome those hurdles, especially by working with banks and others to ensure that the right products are in place to give confidence that there will be a successful outcome to the proposed transaction. The morning gave a whole host of examples and ideas which treasurers have used to make the difficult possible.
In these trying times it would be good to think that treasurers are looking for every opportunity to work with their colleagues to make business happen. In this way treasurers can make an even greater contribution, restoring confidence to a business world still being battered by the storms of the last few years.
PETER WILLIAMS
EDITOR