Adecade ago, treasurers were the hidden gnomes of the corporate world. They toiled in back offices, managing company financial flows and cash. But they rarely appeared in the spotlight.
“Traditionally, a successful treasury department was one that remained invisible,” a report from the sector’s own trade body, the Association for Financial Professionals, noted wryly this week. “If it performed its tasks successfully . . . senior management paid little to no attention.”
How times change. This week the AFP also released a twice yearly survey of its members, which suggests those treasury gnomes are suddenly receiving more love from their bosses. Some 84 per cent of treasurers say their role has changed significantly in the past couple of years because they have been pulled into wider strategic debates; instead of just managing cash they are opining on issues such as tax policy, mergers and acquisitions and supply chain management too. In fact, they are attracting so much attention, that three-quarters of treasurers say they have “strong” or “excellent” access to the C-suite, and 83 per cent expect their role to become even more important – and strategic – in the next five years.