This supplement is an independent publication from Raconteur Media April 16 2009
CORPORATE TREASURY
Understanding treasury management
Trttprofess
Treasury skills are vital to successful risk management Stuart Siddall tells Peter WilliamsTreasurers are working hard Tto help steer their companies Tthrough the current crisis. The Tprofession has responded well to the higher profile and the demands placed upon them by the need to ensure their companies secure the required fund-ing. A survey conducted by their professional body the Association ofCorporate Treasurers (ACT) shows that because of the hard work by reasury teams, large corporates are in relatively good shape from a treasury and funding perspective. But there is clearly no room for complacency with so many sectors suffering. Stuart Siddall is chief executive of the ACT, a former treasurer and until recentlyfinance director at engineering andproject management company Amec. He knows what it is like at the sharpend and is determined that the ACT is going to put its expertise and knowl-edge to help companies work their Treasury StrategyUnderstanding your business’s needs, drivers and risks must form the cornerstone of cash management policy. way through the credit crisis and eco-nomic downturn. He is also convinced that senior finance people in all com-panies need at least some grounding in treasury if they are to cope with the risks their businesses face.One of the lessons from the credit crisis is that people in all types oforganisations failed to see what was coming. Corporate governance ap-pears to have worked and despite the recent events there seems little need for radical overhaul. Where mistakes have been made is in the risk man-agement area. Many companies have risk registers which companies use to record risks and provide a formal note of the actions taken or intended to manage risks. The problem is that some of the risks that materialised were not on any risk register. One ofthe risk management lessons from the credit crisis is that we have become obsessed with process and the dem-page 6Contingency Planning....The recession has put extra pressure on cash, so treasurers need to have a comprehensive Plan B in place. page 11onstration of process rather than po-tential outcomes. For instance boardsof companies are required to reviewthe systems of internal controls butthey don’t have to express an opinion.Siddall said: “That system is pushingyou to ensure that a process exists, it not looking for any qualitative view asto how good the system is. But if youlooked at internal controls and foundthey weren’t good you would surely bContinued on page 3Looking overseasForeign banks may be able to offer UK businesses much needed funding. But loyal customers need only apply. page 13