A quick summary of the 2021 Business of Treasury report

The Association of Corporate Treasurers’ Business of Treasury 2021 report found liquidity and funding issues front of mind – along with leadership and strategic issues

What are the biggest issues for treasurers today? How has working life changed through the pandemic? What is the position of treasury within organisations? Where do treasurers see themselves in the future?
In the latest Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) Business of Treasury report, we tried to answer these questions. If you’re short of time, here are five slides with the key findings: 

1. Top priority in 2021: capital and liquidity management
 

For the report, we surveyed 180 treasurers around the world. Key finding number one: the fundamentals of treasury aren’t changing significantly in 2021; indeed, the focus on capital and liquidity management is increasing. The reasons for this are pretty clear! But treasurers anticipate spending less time on capital and liquidity next year. The majority of treasurers seem to feel that their current attention level on this issue is sufficient. With business strategy it’s the other way round: treasurers are spending less time on this in 2020/21 than they anticipated. More on that later…

2. Leadership skills still need work

The need to develop leadership and strategic skills remains the biggest barrier to career advancement for treasurers – and the need for these skills grows as treasurers progress through their careers. That’s why this area remains a focus for the ACT’s educational offering for treasurers. 

3. Dial up strategic thinking in the year ahead
 

The value of the treasurer as a strategic partner to the rest of the business hit an all-time high this year, at 92%. But this year’s survey reveals an important divergence when it comes to strategy. While boards are engaging with treasurers on a strategic level, many treasurers have less time to spend on strategy. Business strategy has dipped, therefore, in terms of time spent over the past year. That bucks an upward trend and is worrying if it continues…

4. The pandemic has bolstered trust among treasurers and teams

This year’s survey threw up an intriguing, unprompted finding around trust. A significant number of treasurers say they feel more trusted and/or that they’d learned to trust their team better. Relationships have been enhanced through COVID-19, it seems, though people are still missing being together. 

5. What keeps treasurers awake at night?

Interestingly, fewer treasurers report business and professional challenges keeping them awake at night this year. Staffing, people management and automation remain the biggest challenges, continuing the trend from 2020. COVID-19, of course, became the biggest external challenge this past year. 

Visit the Knowledge Hub to read the full Business of Treasury report and watch ACT chief executive Caroline Stockmann talking through the key findings at the ACT Annual Conference. 

Our thanks to all those who took part in this year’s survey.