Treasury for Non-Treasurers: Sophistication in Solvency Management (Part I)

Introduction

In the last chapter, we reviewed different types of treasuries at a high level: the operational ones, internal and control-oriented, and the strategic ones, sophisticated and externally oriented to work with and support other organisational functions as well as customers and suppliers. We also reviewed tactical treasuries, neither completely operational nor entirely strategic, that either had too little underlying business cash flow to create value from or were constrained by cultural and contextual factors. We described these tactical treasuries as being in ‘The Chasm’ – trying to resolve too many conflicting objectives with too few resources. We reviewed methods of getting out of the chasm and making treasury strategic and materially value-adding to non-treasurers.

This new chapter concentrates on corporate treasury’s most important objective, keeping the organisation solvent. We’ll start with an overview and then review solvency management in operational treasuries. After that, we’ll follow up with tactical and strategic treasuries in the next articles, and then, next, other objectives like profitability support.

Note that this article builds on the previous ones. For example, we talked in detail about the impact of cultures and contexts in the two articles about crossing the chasm. You will find it harder to follow without reading these articles first. Each article is short – If you want to read or re-read them, the links are below.


Overview: What are the different levels of sophistication in solvency management?

Remember this diagram from the article on operational treasuries?

Figure 1 – Operational Treasuries – Credit: Nicholas Franck

Let’s look at all the different levels of sophistication relevant to solvency at all levels of sophistication, along with the associated-level productivity and management strategies:

Figure 2 – Solvency Optimisation – Credit: Nicholas Franck

There are six types of treasury with six levels of solvency management sophistication.

Before we dive in and talk about each, it’s important to note that these are descriptions of the ‘average’ treasury managing solvency in an ‘average’ way. There are variations in real-life treasuries: Organisations may be more or less sophisticated; Individuals may have unusual innate or previously learnt skills. These variations are noteworthy, especially when we compare sophistication in solvency management with sophistication in profitability support, productivity and management strategy. These can and do get misaligned. We’ll talk about this and its impacts in a later article.

The six levels of solvency management sophistication are:

1.     Cash management

2.     Liquidity management

3.     [New] Skills development and application

4.     Working capital management

5.     Financing optimisation

6.     Value-chain financing

We will investigate each in turn, including


Who needs sophisticated solvency management?

Not all companies need sophisticated solvency management, but it’s hard to think of anyone who shouldn’t be interested in whether these companies have appropriate solvency management in place.

Imagine an international consultancy like McKinsey or a recruitment consultancy like Adecco. Compare these to manufacturing companies like car companies, long-term research and development investors like GSK or Johnson & Johnson, and even housebuilders like China’s Evergrande. This last one is now famous because it did, in fact, become insolvent. We can only speculate what would have happened if it had had more sophisticated solvency management.

Consultancies’ costs, even global ones, are primarily related to their employees. Employees can be decreased or increased quickly in line with sales. In other words, outflows can be reduced fast if there aren’t sufficient current and future inflows.

Manufacturing companies, long-term investors in research and development, owners of large amounts of inventory and work-in-progress, on the other hand, cannot adapt so fast. They must borrow or issue shares to remain solvent even in worse economic environments. They, therefore, need to be more sophisticated in managing their solvency.

What’s this got to do with you, non-treasurers?

  • You might be working in or be a CFO or board member of one of these types of companies. Now or in future.
  • You may have invested in them directly or indirectly through pension and insurance funds.
  • (If you’re in sales or any aspect of supply chain management,) You might have these companies as customers or suppliers.
  • (If you’re an auditor, analyst, journalist, academic, MBA or member of an association of corporate treasurers,) You need to understand the differences between these and other types of companies and the existential importance of sophisticated financing to their success.

It’s hard to think of anyone who shouldn’t be interested in knowing in advance whether these companies have appropriate solvency management and adapt the actions they take as a result. It’s too late once the companies hit hard times.

So, imagine you’re a leading decision maker in Acme Manufacturing Corporation, a multi-billion-dollar turnover company that needs large amounts of funding. What kind of treasury do you have now, and what should it be like? You are not the Treasurer, however. How can you tell from the outside looking in? Let’s find out by looking at operational treasuries first.


Operational treasuries’ solvency management

For a reminder of operational Treasury types, see the article Operational Treasuries.

Basic treasuries

Basic treasuries do cash management only. They move money between head office, subsidiaries and or banks, doing the same day-to-day unless the CFO or head of the finance function says differently. They follow an ad-hoc management strategy with, usually, no written policies or processes. They have little specialised technology and a small staff – often just one person. This person or small staff will have little or no specialist training. They rely on on-the-job practical experience.

What can you expect from this type of treasury if it’s what you’ve got in Acme Manufacturing?

Not much – This type of treasury won’t have the tools and skills to assess future solvency.

This type of treasury is likely to be found in a smaller turnover organisation, a startup-, a small- or medium-sized enterprise – my experience suggests one with $ 200 million or less in sales – or in organisations where the CFOs do not realise that treasury should be the guardian of solvency management. My experience working on the sales side in banks and as a consultant tells me that many multi-billion $ sales companies have treasuries like this.

Let’s describe these basic treasuries in an easy-to-read format consistent with how we’ll describe other types later on:

1.     Solvency management sophistication level:

  • Cash management

2.     Management strategy:

  • Ad-hoc, defined and changed as wanted by the CFO or head of finance.

3. Focus:

  • Daily payments funded by available cash or financing facilities. Investment of surpluses, usually overnight or for a very short period only.

4. Productivity:

Technology:

  • Electronic banking
  • More specialised treasury technology may be in place, such as systems to consolidate cash forecasts from different functions and subsidiaries (a ‘cash forecasting system’)  or a treasury management system (a ‘TMS’, a system that automates treasury operational processes in the same way an accounting system automates an accounting function’s processing.) However, manual data entry and a lack of systems integrations will limit the value of these systems. There won’t be enough people in place with the skills or time to get good results. As a result, they’ll not meaningfully improve the efficiency of the treasury.

Outsourcing:

  • None, usually

Banking products and services:

  • As needed by the organisation; not influenced by treasury

5. Skills:

  • Technical skills: Daily cash movement, funding and investment
  • Soft / power skills: No standout ones

6. Organisation structure:

  • Often part of general finance, not in a separate treasury function

7. Ability to handle future funding shortfalls:

  • Medium-term – foreseeable: Low
  • Long-term – foreseeable: Low

The accounting department will usually handle all longer-term cash flow planning, not treasury.

  • Unforeseeable black swan events: Low

8. Unintended consequences at this level:

  • Lack of knowledge of products and services available from banks and other financial institutions. Inability, as a result, to advise the CFO or head of finance on solvency management optimisation.

9. ‘Tells’ non-treasurers might see from outside the function:

  • Those identifiable from points 1 – 8. For example, that treasury is not a distinct function (point 6).
  • The Treasurer or person with an equivalent title will rarely be involved in or contributing to strategic- or tactical decision-making. The CFO or head of finance will handle this.

As a multi-billion $ turnover company, ACME needs a more sophisticated treasury than this. This type is unacceptable except in any but a small company. Even in those, to counter events which, in hindsight, are obvious, one or more staff with specialist knowledge is a worthwhile investment. In the case of the startups who used Silicon Valley Bank as their unique bank for holding cash and offering borrowing facilities: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.

Control-oriented treasuries

Control-oriented treasuries carry out all of the activities of basic treasuries and, in addition, concentrate on having cash or borrowing facilities to meet foreseeable medium-term needs. CFOs will have delegated authority and responsibility to them through rigid policy documents that board-appointed risk committees have approved. They will have more technology than basic treasuries. They will have more staff – usually four or more – and these will most likely have had specialist training. However, they still rely mainly on on-the-job learning.

What can you expect from this type of treasury?

This type of treasury will have the tools and skills to estimate future solvency likelihood and needs. It will have more advanced systems, but, most likely, data quality will be low. In particular, the cash forecast will become less and less reliable the further ahead it tries to forecast.

This treasury type is likely to be in organisations with more than $ 200 million in sales but less than $ 500 million, or if above this, in those where the CFOs do not realise treasury can be more sophisticated in managing solvency. Again, I have seen many of these treasuries in real life.

1. Solvency management sophistication level:

  • Liquidity Management

Standard definition: “[Providing liquidity is providing] The right money in the right place in the right currency at the right time”. Note the emphasis on control implicit in this statement.

2.     Management strategy:

  • Control orientation

2. Focus:

  • A pre-defined ‘right’ amount of cash to be in the bank accounts today and in the medium-term foreseeable future, usually under one year. ‘Right’ means not too much and not too little.
  • The lowest amount of total debt in place consistent with a pre-determined optimal level of debt to equity.
  • Organisation: Policies, documentation, reporting, audit-compliance
  • Centralisation, simplification, streamlining, rationalisation, automation and outsourcing

3. Productivity

Technology:

  • A treasury management system – what it does is described in the section above.
  • A cash forecasting system (unless there’s a module in the treasury management system that already does this)
  • A ‘netting system.’ This system calculates net payments owed and payable by participants in a closed group of companies, reducing and simplifying the number of transactions to be made by each. It simplifies cash and liquidity management, especially in companies with complex solvency management requirements.
  • Interfaces that link different internal and external systems together to minimise rekeying and possibilities of human error (straight-through-processing or STP.)
  • More specialist treasury technology may be in place. This technology will generally focus on bringing information to the centre, where decisions on actions will be made.

Banks may be the providers of these systems or bank-agnostic systems houses.

Treasuries at this level suffer extensively from poor data quality. The reason is not technical: Central treasury asks for other functions to do time-consuming work (forecasting) but doesn’t reciprocate by providing something of equal value in return. The main impact on treasury will be that functions do not prioritise improving their submissions. To use the old Soviet saying: “For as long as they pretend to pay us, we’ll pretend to work.”

There are always exceptions, of course, often associated with the organisation’s and individual’s cultures (high power-distance cultures like Germany’s or Japan’s).

Outsourcing:

  • Companies can outsource any technology and associated process requirements to external providers. This outsourcing is rare at this level, though – there is an internal struggle between the wish to reduce risks versus to retain control.

Banking products and services:

  • Organisations reduce the number of banks and bank accounts they have and give preference to those who offer products and services with better conditions, including but not restricted to pricing.
  • Treasury pushes the rest of the business to adopt payment and receipt types and processes that result in better visibility over when monies are available for use or paid out.
  • Passive cash management tools and services treasury to outsource low- or no-value-adding processes like cash movement between group bank accounts and optimise interest income and expense. The most common structures are ‘pooling’ and ‘sweeping.’.

Hearing that several of these are in place is a tell for non-treasurers. It means that the treasury is not a basic treasury. There are many variations of these payment types and cash movement structures. The names of the variants differ. Big-picture, though, whatever the names and differences, treasury has outsourced cash and liquidity management activities to increase certainty, reduce bank charges and optimise interest income and expense. Any treasury relying heavily on these is in a control-oriented or above.

Treasuries often struggle with subsidiaries and functions accepting their taking over of activities. It’s a zero-sum game. The more control treasury has, the less they have.

4. Skills needed:

In addition to those previously mentioned,

  • Technical skills: More sophisticated investment and borrowing skills; In-depth knowledge of bank-provided cash management-related products and services, as well as many systems that help manage and control cash flow.
  • Soft / power skills: Good organisational skills

5. Organisation structure:

  • Treasury will now be a separate department within the overall finance function.

6. Ability to handle future funding shortfalls:

  • Medium-term – foreseeable: Medium
  • Long-term – foreseeable: Medium

The accounting department will, most likely, still handle longer-term cash flow planning, not treasury.

  • Unforeseeable black swan events: Low

7. Unintended consequences at this level:

  • The desire for rigid control and predictability can lead to over-automation and a ‘black box effect’, where staff forget the basics and reasons for what’s happening inside the system and even in non-automated processes. This effect can be particularly problematic if the people who initially implemented the policy, process or automation have moved on.
  • Similarly, implementing an overly rigid, control-oriented function means that flexibility is the prerogative of higher-level people, such as the CFOs’. This lack of autonomy is a problem particularly relevant to non-treasurers as it often leads to a real or perceived lack of proactivity and resistance to change.

8. ‘Tells’ non-treasurers might see from outside the function:

Those identifiable from points 1 – 7.

  • Staff with the title ‘Treasurer’ or variations on this will start to be involved and have a say in strategic- or tactical decision-making, mainly in a reactive role or in emergencies.
  • Treasury personnel often use words and phrases that are hard for outsiders to understand.

ACME, as a multi-billion dollar turnover company, can justify having a more sophisticated treasury than this. However, the company’s or critical decision-makers’ cultures and values and the current context in which they find themselves may mean that progressing beyond this stage is unacceptable or not a priority.

Note that we reviewed the most relevant aspects of culture and context in the “crossing the chasm” articles.


Interim summary and conclusions

1. Knowledge is power – Non-treasurers who want to understand and or get materially significant value from treasury must be able to identify at what level of sophistication a treasury is now and not rely on what the Treasurer says. Remember Chapter 2: ‘Is Treasury a strategic function? Ask 1,000 treasurers the question, 999 will say “Yes”.’ I am not being unkind to Treasurers. Siloed thinking occurs in most functions in most organisations. Treasury can be one of these.

2. In this article, we’ve looked at the lowest-level types of treasuries. Even at this level, though, we already see significant differences in headcount, technology, staffing and organisational structure between the first two treasuries. We also see the beginnings of an evolution of a different culture – not just separating from one group into two (accounting into accounting and treasury) and a different language used. I could have added a different perception of time, previously described in Chapter 3’s Crossing the Chasm (Part I). We’ll see this cultural gap expand as treasuries get ever more sophisticated. Non-treasurers must realise this – Treasury is different from other finance functions. All may, for example, ask the same questions. They are, however, approaching situations from entirely different perspectives. Even if they ask the same questions, they are not wasting non-treasurers’ time.

3. On the personnel side, we see a development in technical skills and some soft / power skills. It will be essential to follow the development of these skill requirements as treasuries become increasingly sophisticated. The lack of the right skills is, without doubt, the most significant reason treasuries do not get more sophisticated and, therefore, don’t deliver more value to non-treasurers.


Close and next article

I look forward to your thoughts and comments on this and the part II article next week.

Next article: Sophistication in Solvency Management (Part II)

Previous articles in the Treasury for Non-Treasurers series:

  1. What is Treasury?
  1. Is Treasury a Strategic Function?
  1. What’s Treasury’s impact on business performance? (Part 1: Operational Treasuries)
  1. Treasury for Non-Treasurers: A Tale of two Operational Treasuries – Basic and Control-Oriented
  1. What’s Treasury’s impact on business performance? (Part 2: Strategic Treasuries)
  1. The Realities of Strategic Treasuries – Managing Complexity and Stakeholder Impact
  1. What’s Treasury impact on business performance? (Part 3: Tactical Treasuries)
  1. Treasury for Non-Treasurers: Crossing the Chasm (Part I)
  1. Treasury for Non-Treasurers: Crossing the Chasm (Part II)
  1. Other: Treasury for Non-Treasurers (Appendices)

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This article is written by Monkey

Cash flow management is critical for business success. Whether you’re a startup or an established company, implementing effective cash flow strategies can mean the difference between thriving and barely surviving in today’s competitive market.

This guide explores proven techniques to improve cash flow, recognize warning signs of cash problems, and build a stronger financial foundation for sustainable growth.

What Is Cash Flow?

Cash flow refers to the net amount of cash moving in and out of your business over a specific period. Understanding the difference between positive and negative cash flow is essential:

Positive Cash Flow: More money coming in than going out – your business can cover expenses and invest in growth.

Negative Cash Flow: Outflows exceed inflows – putting your business at risk of financial difficulties.

Important: Cash flow isn’t the same as profit. While profit reflects earnings after expenses, cash flow measures liquidity – how much actual money you have available to operate your business.

Why Cash Flow Management Matters

Healthy cash flow management allows your business to:

  • Pay operating expenses like rent, utilities, and payroll on time
  • Invest in growth opportunities such as marketing, equipment, or inventory
  • Build financial reserves to weather economic downturns
  • Reduce debt dependence for day-to-day operations
  • Take advantage of supplier discounts for early payments

Warning Signs of Cash Flow Problems

Recognize these red flags before they become critical issues:

  • Constantly delaying payments to suppliers
  • Struggling to make payroll on time
  • Heavy reliance on credit lines for daily expenses
  • Frequent overdraft fees or bounced checks
  • Difficulty securing new credit or loans

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s time to implement cash flow improvement strategies immediately.

7 Strategies to Improve Your Company’s Cash Flow

1. Streamline Your Accounts Receivable Process

Faster collections = better cash flow. Optimize your AR with these tactics:

Invoice Immediately: Send invoices the same day you deliver goods or services. Set Clear Payment Terms: Use specific terms like “net-30” or “2/10 net-30”

Offer Early Payment Discounts: 2% discount for payments within 10 days. Implement AR Factoring: Convert receivables to immediate cash (80-95% of invoice value). Automate Follow-ups: Use software to send payment reminders automatically

2. Negotiate Better Supplier Payment Terms

While collecting payments quickly, extend your own payment deadlines when possible:

  • Negotiate 45-60 day payment terms instead of 30 days
  • Request seasonal payment adjustments for cyclical businesses
  • Implement Supply Chain Finance programs so suppliers get paid early while you maintain extended terms
  • Take advantage of early payment discounts only when cash flow permits

3. Implement Cash Flow Forecasting

Proactive cash flow management requires regular monitoring and forecasting:

  • Create weekly cash flow projections for the next 13 weeks
  • Track seasonal patterns in your business
  • Identify potential cash shortfalls before they occur
  • Use cash flow management software like QuickBooks, Xero, or specialized tools

4. Cut Unnecessary Expenses

Review operating costs and eliminate waste without compromising quality:

Immediate Actions:

  • Cancel unused subscriptions and memberships
  • Renegotiate contracts with service providers
  • Outsource non-essential tasks instead of hiring full-time staff
  • Reduce office space or utilities costs

Ongoing Reviews:

  • Conduct monthly expense audits
  • Compare vendor pricing annually
  • Implement approval processes for discretionary spending

5. Optimize Inventory Management

Excess inventory ties up valuable cash. Implement these inventory optimization strategies: Just-in-Time (JIT) Ordering: Order stock as needed to minimize excess. ABC Analysis: Focus on managing high-value items more closely

Inventory Turnover Tracking: Monitor how quickly inventory sells. Seasonal Adjustments: Reduce slow-moving inventory before peak seasons

6. Review and Adjust Pricing Strategy

If cash flow issues stem from low profit margins, consider strategic price adjustments:

  • Market Analysis: Research competitor pricing and positioning
  • Value Assessment: Ensure pricing reflects the value you provide
  • Gradual Increases: Implement price changes in phases to minimize customer resistance
  • Communication Strategy: Clearly explain price changes to maintain customer relationships

7. Build a Cash Reserve Fund

Create a financial safety net for unexpected expenses or opportunities:

Target: 3-6 months of operating expenses in reserve. Strategy: Allocate 5-10% of monthly revenue to cash reserves. Investment: Keep reserves in high-yield savings or money market accounts. Access: Ensure funds are readily available when needed

Advanced Cash Flow Management Techniques

Supply Chain Finance Programs

Partner with financial institutions to offer early payment options to suppliers while maintaining extended payment terms for your business.

Dynamic Discounting

Use excess cash strategically by taking supplier discounts when cash flow is strong and skipping them when cash is tight.

Invoice Financing Solutions

Access multiple financing options including factoring, asset-based lending, and invoice financing to optimize cash flow timing.

Technology Solutions for Cash Flow Management

Cash Flow Management Software

  • QuickBooks: Integrated accounting and cash flow forecasting
  • Xero: Real-time cash flow tracking and reporting
  • Float: Specialized cash flow forecasting and scenario planning
  • PlanGuru: Advanced budgeting and cash flow modeling

Automated Payment Systems

  • ACH processing for faster, lower-cost transactions
  • Online payment portals for customer convenience
  • Mobile payment options to accelerate collections
  • Recurring billing automation for subscription businesses

Measuring Cash Flow Performance

Track these key metrics to monitor improvement:

Operating Cash Flow Ratio: Operating cash flow ÷ Current liabilities. Cash Flow Coverage Ratio: Operating cash flow ÷ Total debt payments. Free Cash Flow: Operating cash flow – Capital expenditures Days Cash on Hand: Cash and equivalents ÷ Daily operating expenses

Common Cash Flow Management Mistakes

Mistake 1: Focusing Only on Profit

Solution: Monitor both profitability and cash flow separately – they’re different metrics

Mistake 2: Inadequate Forecasting

Solution: Create rolling 13-week cash flow forecasts updated weekly

Mistake 3: Poor Customer Credit Policies

Solution: Implement credit checks and clear payment terms from the start

Mistake 4: Seasonal Planning Failures

Solution: Plan for seasonal fluctuations and build cash reserves during peak periods

Take Action to Improve Your Cash Flow

Effective cash flow management isn’t just about balancing the books – it’s about creating a solid foundation for business growth and sustainability.

Start today by:

  1. Analyzing your current cash flow patterns
  2. Implementing AR and AP optimization strategies
  3. Setting up cash flow forecasting processes
  4. Building emergency cash reserves

Remember: Small improvements in cash flow timing can have dramatic impacts on your business’s financial health and growth potential.

Ready to transform your cash flow management? The combination of strategic processes, technology solutions, and proactive planning will give you the financial control needed to grow your business confidently.

Also Read

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From Treasury Masterminds

Based on a Treasury Masterminds webinar featuring Bojan BelejkovskI, Board Member at Treasury Masterminds, and Charles Brough, VP Global Head of Account Management at SAP Taulia. Moderated by Patrick Kunz.

Recordings on Spotify and YouTube:

Unlocking Liquidity: Why Working Capital Is Everyone’s Problem

Working capital is one of those topics that every company talks about, but few companies truly own.

It sounds simple enough. Improve receivables. Optimise payables. Reduce trapped cash. Create more visibility. Free up liquidity.

In practice, it is rarely that clean.

Working capital does not sit neatly inside one department. Treasury sees the cash impact, procurement negotiates supplier terms, sales agrees customer terms, finance manages the accounting, operations influences execution. Everyone touches it, yet ownership is often unclear.

That was one of the key themes in our Treasury Masterminds webinar, “Unlocking Liquidity: Flexible Working Capital Strategies”, with Bojan Belejkovski, Treasury Masterminds board member, and Charles Smith from SAP Taulia.

As Patrick said during the session:

“There is no working capital department and there will never be a working capital department. Collaboration is the key.”

That may sound obvious, but it is often exactly where working capital initiatives fail.

Treasury Sees The Impact

Treasury is usually close to the numbers. It sees the cash flow forecast, the bank balances, the liquidity gaps, the funding needs and the impact of payment behaviour.

Bojan described treasury’s role very clearly:

“Treasury owns the measurement and the consequence of working capital, even when it doesn’t own the levers themselves.”

That is the uncomfortable truth.

Treasury can see that DSO is moving in the wrong direction. It can see when supplier terms create liquidity pressure. It can see when cash is trapped in entities or countries. It can also see when the forecast does not match reality.

But treasury does not always control the decisions that create the problem.

Sales may agree to extended payment terms to close a deal. Procurement may negotiate supplier terms without considering the full cash impact. Business units may sit on cash locally. By the time treasury is involved, the decision has often already been made.

Bojan put it even sharper:

“Treasury is often the last function to find out and the first one to be asked to fix something.”

Many treasurers will recognise that sentence immediately.

Visibility Comes First

Before companies can improve working capital, they need to understand where liquidity is stuck.

Charles made that point early in the discussion:

“If you don’t have visibility, you can’t actually take any action, and you can’t improve from where you are today.”

This is where many organisations still struggle.

They may have data in ERP systems, TMS platforms, spreadsheets, bank portals and local reports. The information exists, but it is fragmented. By the time it is collected, cleaned and discussed, the opportunity may already have moved.

That lack of visibility makes it difficult to answer basic questions.

  • Which customers are paying late?
  • Which suppliers are being paid too early?
  • Where is cash trapped?
  • Which payment terms are inconsistent?
  • Where is the biggest liquidity opportunity?

Without answers to those questions, working capital management becomes guesswork. And guesswork is not a strategy, even if someone puts it in PowerPoint.

Receivables Are Often Under-Owned

One of the most interesting parts of the webinar was the discussion about receivables.

When asked where he would focus first, Bojan did not hesitate.

“If I can fix one tomorrow, it’s going to be receivables.”

His reason was simple. Receivables are often under-owned.

Sales is focused on revenue. Credit is focused on risk. Finance is focused on accounting. Treasury is focused on cash. All of them have a role, but that does not automatically create ownership.

Or as Bojan said:

“Everyone touches receivables. No one owns it.”

That is a big issue.

A company can have a strong sales performance and still struggle with cash collection. It can have good revenue growth while liquidity gets stuck in overdue invoices. It can have a strong pipeline, while treasury is forced to deal with the cash gap.

Receivables are also messy. Customer behaviour changes. Billing data is not always clean. Collection processes are not always consistent. Commercial teams do not always want to have uncomfortable conversations with customers.

That is why receivables deserve more attention from treasury.

Not because treasury should suddenly become the collections department, nobody needs that tragedy, but because treasury can help quantify the cash impact, highlight the risk and bring the right teams together.

Supply Chain Finance Is Not Free Money

Supply chain finance was another important topic in the discussion.

It is sometimes presented as a simple liquidity tool. Extend payment terms, offer suppliers early payment, unlock cash. Done.

Reality is more nuanced.

Charles explained it well:

“The primary value of supply chain finance is as a negotiation tool.”

That is an important distinction.

A good supply chain finance programme is not just about creating liquidity for the buyer. It can also support suppliers by giving them access to financing at better rates than they could achieve on their own.

For the buyer, it creates flexibility. For the supplier, it can reduce cash flow pressure. For procurement, it becomes part of the broader supplier relationship.

That also means success depends on adoption.

Charles made another practical point:

“It’s not just about the rate. The supplier experience matters just as much.”

If the programme is difficult to use, suppliers will not adopt it. If procurement is not involved, it will not scale. If treasury builds the programme in isolation, it risks becoming a nice technical solution that nobody actually uses.

Bojan was clear on this as well:

“The programs that scale are the ones where procurement and treasury are genuinely aligned on day one.”

That is probably one of the most practical lessons for any company considering supply chain finance.

Do not start with the technology.

Start with alignment.

Treasury Needs to Be in the Room Earlier

Working capital cannot be managed properly if treasury only joins at the end of the process.

Bojan captured this perfectly:

“You can’t drive strategy from the end of the process.”

If customer terms are agreed without treasury input, the cash impact becomes treasury’s problem later. If supplier terms are negotiated without considering liquidity, treasury has to manage the consequences. If local entities hold excess cash without group visibility, treasury has to work around the structure.

The companies that do this better involve treasury earlier.

Bojan explained:

“The companies where treasury drives working capital have given treasury a seat early and with a mandate.”

That mandate matters.

Treasury should not be there just to report the outcome. It should help the business understand the cash effect of decisions before those decisions are made. This does not mean treasury needs to own sales, procurement or operations. It does mean treasury should be part of the conversation when payment terms, financing structures and liquidity trade-offs are discussed.

Automation Before AI

Naturally, AI came up during the webinar. It always does now. Mention treasury technology in 2026 and AI enters the room like it owns the building.

But the discussion was refreshingly practical.

AI is not the first step.

As Patrick said during the session:

“AI is not step one. It’s often step three or four.”

Before AI can add real value, companies need visibility, automation and clean data. If the underlying data is poor, the output will be poor as well. AI does not magically fix broken processes. It just makes bad data look more confident.

Charles described the role of technology around three themes: visibility, scalability and automation.

Automation removes manual work. It makes receivables finance more scalable. It supports reconciliation. It helps treasury teams manage more with fewer resources.

Only after that foundation is in place does AI become truly useful.

Charles summarised the right mindset clearly:

“People direct. AI executes.”

That is the point.

AI should help treasury professionals gather information faster, analyse patterns and support better decisions. It should not replace judgment.

For small treasury teams, this can be powerful. Less time spent collecting data. More time spent using it.

Real Value or Balance Sheet Cosmetics?

Towards the end of the webinar, we discussed a more provocative question.

Are working capital programmes real liquidity improvements, or are they sometimes just balance sheet cosmetics?

The honest answer is: both can happen.

Some programmes are used around reporting dates to improve metrics temporarily. That may look good on paper, but it does not necessarily improve the underlying business.

Bojan was clear about that risk:

“Cosmetics are real, but they shouldn’t be the reason why you did the program.”

A well-run working capital programme should create repeatable value. It should improve liquidity, reduce funding pressure, strengthen supplier or customer relationships and give the company more flexibility.

Charles brought the discussion back to one key metric: the internal cost of cash.

If a company understands its true cost of cash, it can make better decisions about early payment discounts, supplier financing, receivables finance and liquidity trade-offs.

That is when working capital moves from cosmetic reporting to real value creation.

Final Thought

Working capital is not just a treasury topic: It is a business topic.

Treasury may see the problem first, but it cannot solve it alone. The real value comes when treasury, procurement, sales, finance and operations work from the same playbook.

That requires visibility.

It requires shared ownership.

It requires technology that supports the process.

And most importantly, it requires treasury to be involved before the problem lands in the cash forecast.

Working capital is often described as hidden liquidity. That is true. But in many companies, the liquidity is not just hidden in receivables, payables or trapped cash.

It is hidden between departments.

Also Read

Join our Treasury Community

Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information.

This article is written by TreasuryCube

From back-office function to strategic powerhouse: How modern treasury departments are reshaping corporate finance

The Strategic Evolution of Treasury

Corporate treasury has undergone a remarkable metamorphosis. Once relegated to the shadows of financial management—handling cash, monitoring liquidity, and mitigating basic risks—treasury has emerged as a critical strategic partner driving organizational success. This evolution isn’t merely an upgrade; it’s a complete reimagining of what treasury can and should deliver.

Today’s treasurers sit at the nexus of strategic decision-making, armed with real-time insights, predictive capabilities, and technological prowess that was unimaginable just a decade ago. As CFOs face mounting pressure to deliver value beyond traditional finance functions, treasurers have stepped up to become indispensable strategic advisors.

Why Treasury Transformation Is Non-Negotiable

Organizations hesitating to modernize their treasury functions face existential risks in today’s volatile business landscape:

  • Competitive disadvantage: Companies with outdated treasury capabilities operate with significant blind spots, making them vulnerable to more agile competitors.
  • Value erosion: Every day of operating with legacy systems translates to missed opportunities for working capital optimization, cost reduction, and value creation.
  • Strategic irrelevance: Treasury departments that fail to evolve become tactical executors rather than strategic enablers—precisely when businesses need financial leadership most.

As one Fortune 500 treasurer recently noted: “Our transformation journey wasn’t optional. It was either evolve or become obsolete.”

The Driving Forces Reshaping Treasury

1. Digital Revolution and Intelligent Automation

The marriage of digital technologies with treasury operations has created unprecedented efficiencies. AI and ML algorithms now predict cash positions with remarkable accuracy, while RPA has eliminated manual processes that once consumed thousands of labor hours annually.

Consider the impact: One global manufacturer reduced payment processing time by 87% through intelligent automation, freeing their treasury team to focus on strategic initiatives that generated over $12M in additional working capital.

2. TreasuryCube: Revolutionizing Treasury Management

Treasury transformation has been significantly advanced by innovative TMS providers like TreasuryCube. As a comprehensive corporate treasury management software, TreasuryCube helps companies manage their cash, liquidity, risk, and investments with exceptional efficiency. Built on the latest .NET framework and utilizing web assembly technology, this SaaS platform offers:

  • Real-time cash visibility and forecasting: Enabling accurate cash flow positioning by analyzing historical data and trends for informed decision-making
  • Seamless integration: Offering custom connections to both internal (ERP, AP, AR) and external (banks, market data providers) systems
  • In-house banking capabilities: Providing payment hub functionality that transforms manual processes into automated workflows for group companies
  • Intercompany netting: Simplifying the complex tasks of accounting and treasury teams by providing clear transaction trails for consolidation
  • Advanced bank reconciliation: Automatically analyzing and matching bank account transactions with corresponding system cash flows

3. Advanced Data Analytics and Real-Time Intelligence

The explosion of financial data has transformed treasurers from backward-looking reporters to forward-thinking strategists. Advanced predictive models now forecast cash positions with precision while identifying anomalies that might signal fraud or operational issues.

Real-time dashboards have replaced monthly reports, enabling treasurers to:

  • Immediately identify liquidity shortfalls before they impact operations
  • Capitalize on short-term investment opportunities within minutes
  • Adjust hedging strategies in response to market movements as they happen

TreasuryCube exemplifies this trend with its comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, including customizable dashboards and automated report generation that enable companies to monitor financial performance, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

4. Global Complexity and Regulatory Precision

As regulatory frameworks grow increasingly complex—from Basel III to IFRS 9 to expanding ESG mandates—treasurers have evolved sophisticated compliance capabilities. Treasury transformation has enabled organizations to navigate this complexity with remarkable precision.

Modern treasury management systems like TreasuryCube ensure adherence to internal and external regulatory requirements, such as anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines, while incorporating robust security measures to protect sensitive financial data.

5. Sustainability Integration

ESG considerations have moved from peripheral concerns to central treasury priorities. Forward-thinking treasurers are now:

  • Structuring green bonds and sustainability-linked loans
  • Developing carbon-adjusted financial metrics
  • Integrating climate risk into financial planning models
  • Creating sustainable investment frameworks that align with corporate values

The Next Frontier: Treasury Innovation

1. Cloud-Native Treasury Ecosystems

The migration to cloud-based treasury management systems represents more than a technology shift—it’s a fundamental reimagining of how treasury functions operate. TreasuryCube embodies this evolution as a genuine multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service platform that offers:

  • Continuous innovation through automatic updates
  • Seamless scalability during business expansion or acquisition
  • Geographic flexibility enabling true global operations
  • Enhanced collaboration across finance functions

As a cloud-native solution, TreasuryCube eliminates the need for extensive implementation timelines with highly configurable workflows and prebuilt master data upload capabilities, reducing consulting and implementation hours significantly.

2. API-Powered Financial Networks

The API revolution has unleashed unprecedented connectivity between treasury systems, banking partners, and third-party platforms. TreasuryCube leverages this technology with custom connections to both internal and external data sources, ensuring that no matter which solutions or services a company utilizes, their data is always available for visualization, analysis, and reporting.

This connectivity enables:

  • Elimination of batch processing in favor of real-time data flows
  • Instant visibility into global cash positions
  • Automated reconciliation processes that once took days
  • Flexible, adaptable connections across the financial value chain

3. Quantum-Level Security

As treasury operations digitalize, cybersecurity has evolved from IT concern to treasury imperative. Leading treasury management systems like TreasuryCube utilize enterprise-grade security measures, including:

  • Secure messaging via SWIFT, CAMT (ISO 2002 compliant XML format), and BAI formats
  • Advanced firewalls and endpoint security through partnerships with industry leaders
  • Sophisticated encryption protocols for payment systems
  • Robust authorization workflows with multi-layer approval processes

4. Working Capital as Strategic Advantage

Innovative treasurers have transformed working capital management from a financial necessity to a competitive advantage. TreasuryCube enhances this capability by optimizing receivables, payables, and inventory management through:

  • Dynamic supplier financing programs that optimize both buyer and supplier benefits
  • Streamlined workflows for bank reconciliation that expedite book closing processes
  • Intercompany netting that reduces complexity and costs in managing multi-currency transactions
  • Advanced matching logic for bank account transactions that eliminates manual reconciliation

5. Strategic FinTech Integration

The relationship between corporate treasury and FinTech has evolved from competitive to collaborative. TreasuryCube exemplifies this trend by delivering specialized financial software development services that create secure and reliable IT ecosystems for treasury departments.

This approach enables treasurers to:

  • Embed specialized financial solutions within their treasury ecosystems
  • Benefit from industry-specific expertise in financial technology implementation
  • Leverage FinTech innovations to enter new markets and create new business models
  • Access rapid implementation and cost-efficient maintenance

6. The Treasury Talent Revolution

Perhaps most significantly, the profile of treasury professionals has fundamentally changed. Today’s high-performing treasury teams blend:

  • Financial expertise with technological fluency
  • Analytical rigor with strategic vision
  • Risk management discipline with innovation mindset
  • Deep specialist knowledge with cross-functional understanding

TreasuryCube supports this evolution by providing intuitive, user-friendly interfaces that are built on modern technology frameworks, enabling treasury professionals to focus on strategic activities rather than manual processes.

The Future Treasury: Strategic Command Center

The trajectory is clear: tomorrow’s treasury function will serve as the strategic command center for organizational financial performance. With solutions like TreasuryCube leading the way, we can expect:

  • Enhanced integration between treasury management systems and broader financial ecosystems
  • Greater automation of routine treasury tasks, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives
  • More sophisticated cash forecasting capabilities leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Expanded in-house banking capabilities that centralize global payments and receivables
  • Deeper integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into treasury operations

As TreasuryCube’s approach demonstrates, this evolution is not just about technological advancement—it’s about empowering financial decisions with real-time insights and seamless automation that drives business value.

Conclusion: From Transformation to Transcendence

Corporate treasury transformation represents more than modernization—it signifies the transcendence of traditional financial boundaries. The treasury function is evolving from a processing center to a value creator, from a risk mitigator to an opportunity enabler, from a cost center to a strategic advantage.

Advanced treasury management systems like TreasuryCube are at the forefront of this evolution, providing the technological foundation that enables treasurers to deliver strategic impact. With features ranging from cash flow positioning and forecasting to intercompany netting and seamless accounting integration, these systems are redefining how treasury departments operate.

Organizations that embrace this transformation journey position themselves not just for financial efficiency but for market leadership. In a business environment characterized by volatility and disruption, a transformed treasury function—supported by innovative technology solutions—becomes the financial north star, guiding the organization through uncertainty with clarity, confidence, and strategic purpose.

The question is no longer whether treasury transformation is necessary, but whether your organization will lead or follow in the race to reimagine what treasury can achieve.

Also Read

Join our Treasury Community

Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management and those interested in learning more about topics such as cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information.