Only half of all companies surveyed in a recent study are using a treasury management system (TMS). The 2016 AFP Treasury Management System Survey, published by Bloomberg and the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), found that just 51 per cent of companies said they use a TMS. This figure varies across different regions, with uptake of TMSs far higher in Europe (63 per cent) and Asia-Pacific (60 per cent) compared to North America (40 per cent).

Of those companies that do have a TMS, half (53 per cent) are using an installed system. As the pie chart below shows, an installed system is by far the most popular form of TMS. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) was used by 27 per cent of the companies with a TMS, followed by 20 per cent who used a module within an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

More than three-quarters of companies surveyed said they have been using their TMS for more than three years, and 27 per cent for more than eight years. Six per cent of those surveyed were still implementing the system. The majority – 54 per cent – of companies that have a TMS are using the most recent version, while 33 per cent use systems that are one to two versions behind the current one.

Fewer corporate TMSs than might be expected connect to SWIFT. The survey's results show that 42 per cent are interfacing their TMS with SWIFT at various levels. However, a third of organisations with TMSs do not automate to SWIFT and 25 per cent use an electronic payment system other than SWIFT.

The survey found that, while a TMS can help the treasury department to deploy resources more efficiently, directing more efforts towards analytical and strategic processes, they are also beyond the means of many smaller firms. Companies with revenues less than $1 billion are less likely to be using a TMS because the benefits don't justify the fees, implementation and maintenance costs.

The report notes that: “The cost of such systems and the resource constraints surrounding IT support for implementation and maintenance of them are two major reasons why companies are hesitant to adopt TMS.”

The survey polled 354 organisations of different sizes from across the globe.