1. Man is a tool-using animal, and treasury technology is a tool that allows more work to be accomplished
2. Properly used, Treasury technology allows a company to operate in 3 dimensions, simultaneously managing profitability, liquidity and risk
3. Improperly used technology allows a company the opportunity to make its mistakes faster
4. Today’s technology (spreadsheets, emails, multiply bank web systems) does not play well together and risk does not respect organizational structures; Technology must provide global “visibility”
5. Technology allows treasury to control and process tasks and transactions associated with the “four flows”
a. Workflows
b. Cash flows
c. Information flows
d. Accounting flows
6. Liquidity (operational cash flows, financial cash flows) is too important to be left
solely to treasury to manage; users in all parts of the company must be assigned
specific responsibilities to manage their portion of the “four flows”
7. Technology allows treasury to compare plan, actual and forecasts results when
asked the following questions by the CFO:
a. Its 10AM - where in the world is my cash and in what currency?? (cash position)
b. It is 11AM – Do I invest or borrow? (liquidity management)
c. It is the end of the day – Was I right today and how should I protect myself from
tomorrow? (risk management)
8. Time is a scarce resource and good technology allows treasury to become both:
a. Efficient – do what I do today better to control today’s risks
b. Effective – accomplish tomorrow’s tasks, the ones I do not do today, to minimize
tomorrow’s risks
9. A well trained treasured staff is the secret ingredient that makes any technology
work better regardless of a vendor’s claims about what their new system can
accomplish
10. The old adage; “measure twice and cut once” applies; double check your
technology plan, then execute it well.
By Bruce C. Lynn, CTP, Managing Partner, FECG