My Finance MSc had a treasury module. That flagged up with a head hunter who put me forward for something that looked interesting called FX risk management. Plan A had actually to be an analyst for pharmaceuticals as my first degree is in Genetics and Microbiology.
The license to be nosey. As treasury touches on so many areas you get to be involved across a wide range of business situations. It means a lot of new and interesting problems to solve.
The same advice as in any role: select your boss carefully. The good ones will push you to get better and better; though you might not always enjoy the learning curve. Being too comfortable can end up wasting your potential and years of your time if you stay too long. If you can’t find a manager who will develop you it’s harder, but not impossible, to do it yourself.
As treasury’s value and range of skills gets more and more recognised the number of people wanting “just a little bit of time” increases fast. There’s so much interesting stuff you could be working with - selecting the best and most relevant quickly is a valuable skill.
Getting to meet a wide range of other treasurers; each with different backgrounds, challenges and perspectives. What I enjoy about my day job really – the variety and being useful.
The cheese is better!. Actually my whole treasury career has been in multinationals in Switzerland so I can’t comment on working elsewhere. I really believe where you are based makes little difference to the skills you use.
Zurich in Autumn hosts the wine ships at the lake front; the lake launches are converted into a floating trade show for scores of wine merchants. It can get a bit hectic in the evenings. Luzern in Summer; the lake cruise through the scenery of William Tell’s old stamping grounds. Davos in Winter during the World Economic Forum (if you can get accommodation). The ski slopes are empty, and you can mention “last time I was in Davos during the WEF…”.
I’d like to take on a team lead role and see if I meet my own definition of a good boss from question 3. That or find the time to write a book.
“What has nature ever done for us?” by Tony Juniper, an interesting assessment of the value at risk of disrupting natural systems. And “The Sagas of the Icelanders”, I can never seem to manage on just one book at a time…
Last time I met a partner at a Big 4 firm I tried to strangle him. Which is okay - he’s my judo instructor. I’d be interested if anyone can tell me why so many tax specialists love judo … I think it’s something to do with the grips.