As some of you will have noticed – and the rest will now – I have changed (and drastically reduced) my role at the ACT. From July 1st I shall be the Speakers’ Chair, chairing selected ACT events (including the Asia Treasury Leaders’ Forum 2016 and ACT Middle East Annual Summit 2016) and supporting events and programme content development. So, although not a valedictory (plenty of those around at the moment!) I thought I would, with your indulgence, make an observation or two on the state of treasury management and the profession.
I was at a business conference the other week and a topic came up in relation to competence in business management. I have long held the view that non-financial UK plc has been woeful in its approach to professionalising itself in comparison with our international competitors. I am talking about a 60 or 70 year time horizon of course not the past few years. It rather mirrors the UK’s general economic policy over that time: when in doubt, depreciate the pound. You may disagree of course: there are plenty of serious professionals working in UK business and indeed there is always an argument for an entrepreneurial approach.
However I am in no doubt that in my (and your) chosen profession, corporate treasury, a lack of professionalism has not been the case. Yes, I am talking my own book (your point?!) but the evidence to my eyes is clear. I would argue more strongly that the position has improved exponentially since the mid 90s as our traditional FTSE100 member and student base has widened significantly in the UK and internationally. Just take a glance at our Ones To Watch publication and the profiles of treasurers we have covered in the Treasurer and Middle East Treasurer magazines in the past few years and that becomes crystal clear.
More interesting however is that treasury itself has moved out of the shadows and become a mainstream finance and business profession. Yes, the financial crisis of 2007-2009 played its part but in reality it’s the globalisation of the world economy since, say, 1973/74 (western oil embargoes, collapse of Bretton Woods) that has meant someone in your organisation has had to think about money as a real business process, an asset and an enabler not just the grease of a squeaky wheel. That’s who you are.
I hope to see some of you in Hong Kong / China in September and in the Middle East in October and the rest? Who knows but Elvis hasn’t quite left the building!