“Treasury is a relatively new specialization within the realm of finance and one that’s transformed in the space of a few decades. It emerged initially as a niche area of accounting tasked with paying bills and providing a more diligent approach to cash management. But today, the role of treasury has expanded vastly with the C-suite relying more and more on the function as a respected voice on a wide range of strategic issues — from climate risk and social issues to managing working capital and financial forecasting”, according to the Association for Finance Professionals (AFP) and Zanders whitepaper titled “The Future of Corporate Treasury Teams.”

With treasury becoming an indispensable component in various organizational functions, spanning from playing a key role in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) transactions to guiding decisions related to supply chain dynamics and commodity risks, it is crucial to build a forward-thinking treasury that as per AFP’s whitepaper is “Resourced and structured to adapt to a rapidly changing market and rising demands for transparency and elevated financial performance.”

To enable optimum performance and build a future-ready treasury, treasurers and their teams must embrace three critical skill sets:

Technical skills

The acceleration of digital transformation and automation in the treasury function is calling for treasurers and their teams to possess advanced technical skills and a readiness to adopt new digital ways of working.

Supporting this assertion, the AFP whitepaper states that “Professional qualifications are still very much a prerequisite for a role in treasury, but it’s a career path that now also involves advanced technical aptitude and expertise.”

As outlined in the whitepaper, the four areas that enhance technical proficiency are: Analytical mindset, meticulous attention to detail, a technology-first orientation, and a data-scientist outlook.  

Further elaborating on these areas, the whitepaper emphasises that possessing an analytical mindset is imperative in treasury, as “Data is the lifeblood of treasury.” Consequently, treasurers must be good with numbers.

The whitepaper also underscores the importance of treasurers being detail-oriented. For instance, incorrectly recording a trade as a sell instead of a buy can have a significant impact on business operations.

Embracing the latest technological advancements, particularly actively engaging with emerging technologies (cloud technology, distributed ledger technology, RPA, AI, ML, and API technology), is key to becoming technology adept, which is the third area to build technical skills in the treasuries of the future.

Providing insight into the fourth facet that bolsters technical competency for the future treasurer involves cultivating the ability to think like a data scientist, as observed in the whitepaper. This entails strategically analysing information and converting data into actionable intelligence.  

Business skills

It is essential for treasurers to leverage their domain expertise in treasury to demonstrate their impact on the organization’s overarching strategic objectives.

To do so, the AFP whitepaper suggests that the “Fit for future” treasurer must not only conduct scenario models and comprehensive analytics but also effectively articulate their interpretations into understandable and concise insights.

Moreover, as the role of corporate treasurers as strategic partners to the business continues to grow, which involves working across business units and serving as trusted advisors to executive-level decision-makers, the whitepaper recommends that treasurers be attuned to leadership by proactively participating in or contributing to leadership discussions.

Envisioning the big picture is the third attribute tomorrow’s corporate treasurer must focus on to enrich their business skills, as per the AFP whitepaper. Accordingly, the whitepaper advocates that treasurers must be able to link diverse business functions to evaluate and grasp the commercial ramifications of their actions.

Outward skills (human-centric skills)

The mastery of technical and business skills holds little value if treasurers lack the ability to collaborate or engage efficiently within the broader organizational framework.

The whitepaper highlights that soft skills are particularly vital for roles such as treasurers. As they step out in the limelight, and are tasked with greater strategic responsibilities, the significance of communication skills has elevated within the treasurer’s repertoire. This necessitates them to become savvy communicators, equipped to communicate complex financial concepts clearly to a broader range of internal and external stakeholders.

To conclude, AFP’s counsel on establishing a forward-looking treasury primarily revolves around positioning your treasury for continued relevance, allowing you to amplify its strategic impact regardless of what the future may bring.

Developing tomorrow’s treasury with the three aforementioned skills to ensure they are responsive to future needs will likely assist treasurers and their organizations to chart a path to success, even in the face of adversity and economic uncertainty.

Treasurers have faced a multitude of risks and challenges over the past four years, and “Adapting and rapidly finding the right response to new challenges can make the difference between a flourishing company that can capitalize on new opportunities and an organization struggling with working capital and credit downgrades. As a result, treasuries now need to be engrained with the creativity and agility to pursue new objectives and add value in new areas. And that in a nutshell is the very essence of building a treasury that’s fit for future”, advises the AFP whitepaper.