Recruiting your first treasury professional
Why hire your first treasury professional?
A growing number of organisations are looking at hiring their first treasury professional – mainly for risk management and to maintain group liquidity.
More organisations now have an increased focus on cash visibility, capital allocation and forecasting. This trend is set to continue and is driving demand for in-house treasury professionals and creating new treasury job opportunities.
The demand for treasury professionals is also being fuelled by the need for businesses to assess their current capital structure, cash management processes and forecasting.
“Typically, the best candidates will have worked within similar treasury functions previously and seen a variety of scenarios.”
They can then implement a clearly defined strategy within a relatively short time period to manage their liquidity status more accurately and effectively. This enables them to forecast accurately over a longer period and to assess the potential impact of various scenarios over the next few years.
What type of treasury professional should you recruit?
Level of qualification and skillset
Typically, the best candidates will have worked within similar treasury functions previously and seen a variety of scenarios.
“The right attitude and ability to fit in with the business is crucial.”
The level and background of your first treasury professional will depend on several factors including:
- Your company’s size, number of jurisdictions and the complexity of treasury issues to deal with
- The scope to grow the role and long-term ambitions for the treasury function
- The necessity to hit the ground running versus the ability to support development
- The remit of the new role including: funding/capital markets, foreign exchange, complexity of cash management and project work
- Anticipated growth in the company and/or level of M&A activity
- Budget and where the new role fits within the finance function
Technical competence aside, the most important attributes for your first treasury professional are strong relationship management skills and commercial awareness. The right attitude and ability to fit in with the business is crucial to establish trust and buy-in from key stakeholders.
“If headcount, budget or tight timeframes are particular issues, you may want to consider hiring a treasury professional on an interim basis.”
Treasury professionals should also be proactive and seek out opportunities to add value within the business.
Interim option
If headcount, budget or tight timeframes are particular issues, you may consider hiring a treasury professional on an interim basis. This allows for a high degree of flexibility and the recruitment of a more senior treasury professional to carry out the initial assessment and implementation of processes and structure.
A long-term solution may be a more junior treasury professional who can grow with the new role and maintain the treasury function going forward.
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