According to research published by Citi last month, corporates with high-performing treasury departments benefit from efficient funding of working capital, proactive identification and mitigation of financial risks, as well as intelligent deployment of liquidity to fund company growth.
The result is a return on invested capital almost twice as high as those whose treasury teams are classified as 'laggards'.
Nevertheless, a separate report from Northern Trust identifies a trend towards corporate treasurers feeling overstretched and operating with limited human and technology resources.
The authors of the Citi report also note that many companies are hampered by disconnected processes, systems and data because of inadequate investment in resources and technology.
According to Jan Dirk van Beusekom, head of strategic marketing and communication at BNP Paribas cash management, payments, trade solutions and factoring, corporates often don’t invest in the treasury function because it is difficult to make its added value clear to decision makers.
“The measurement of return on invested capital – whether in additional staff with specific skills, a new treasury-management system, or software to improve FX hedging or cash-flow forecasting – is more complex than for a one-off transaction or project,” he explains.
