They Shoot Treasurers, Don’t They?

Globalisation and consolidation are the bane of treasurers – but they are not the only threats.

The last few years have seen a globalisation of the economy, globalisation that has had the effect of rationalising activities and consolidating them, merging them together or displacing them. Even if the waves of mergers seem to have been becoming less frequent over the last few months, the obvious economic slowdown and the aftermath of the financial crisis, which is still having its effects, have caused a number of companies to rationalise their staff. The profession of treasurer would not seem to have been immune from this trend. But for all that, you may say that the work has never before been as difficult and diverse. Think of financial regulations and new tax rules, such as the consequences of BEPS, or further IFRS accounting standards which will all only increase treasurers' workloads. 

The workload has increased, but not the staff that has to perform it. Indeed, at the same time as the job has become more complex, we have seen greater productivity in the profession through developments in technology, computerised administration and advances in software which go a long way towards alleviating the day-to-day workload. The paradox of the treasurer's job is therefore that a greater volume of more complex work has been offset more than proportionally by increased technological productivity. The upshot is that the job has expanded and become more diversified, but with fewer staff. The crisis in combination with technology has had this counter-intuitive and Machiavellian effect. At the end of the day, we unfortunate treasurers have had to adapt and modernise our tools to improve our performance to keep up.

The profession has risen through the ranks and come into the limelight in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, without making treasurers any better off than any other of the company's financial personnel. Some treasurers have lost their jobs. Mergers and acquisitions never amount to 1+1 = 2 in terms of treasury staff. Mergers always need to generate their due quota of ‘economies of scale’. That leaves some treasurers without jobs, who want to remain in their chosen profession. It is there that the difficulty of their position lies. They love their profession, which some see as a gilded cage, since it has such diversity, such technical content and exciting and absorbing work. Herein lies the difficulty with finding treasurers jobs outside their own line of work. Is this a dilemma of the finance department's spoilt children? Maybe… 

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A hyper-specialist in a hyper-regulated-world

In a world chock-full of specialists, treasurers would seem to be some sort of hyper-specialist. The profession keeps on developing and changing its ground. It is now closer to the finance director since both the traditional work of treasurers and also their new work has (once again) become so vital. All eyes are on cash – crucial to the company's survival – and ‘financial’ risk management, on value creation and on corporate governance, the leitmotiv of shareholders. The world has become an extremely regulated place with IFRS, SOX, financial security laws, and European Directives including  EMIR, MiFID2, PSD2, CRDIV, BEPS, etc. 

The advantage of being technicians is that people always need to call upon them. The hyper-technical nature of the profession ensures it is always needed, but to a lesser extent, unfortunately. Technological and IT developments have made it possible to rationalise treasury departments. Today, well-equipped treasurers can do more with fewer (human) resources, and more efficiently and with greater control. They should nevertheless not forget to turn their minds to staying employable, and should always think about training to adapt to their very volatile environment.

The paradox of development 

We find a paradox when we note that at a time when the profession has never been as wide-ranging or as technical, with such strategic involvement for the company as it has today, treasurers are losing their jobs and running into difficulties in finding another job in the same line of work. A few retrain for work in an area of finance other than treasury, or become finance directors. This is one of the issues that treasury associations must address. Not many of them do so, unfortunately. However, they are there first and foremost to serve their members and to consider their futures. Perhaps the associations have forgotten their role. Anticipating developments in the profession, supporting it and finally keeping their members employable – these should be aims common to all associations. Every difficulty we encounter should be an opportunity for progress, to paraphrase the historian Baron de Coubertin.

They shoot horses, don't they?

Just as they shoot horses, they finish off treasurers, too. Should they be put down when they are no longer able to retrain for other work? That is the big question. By trying to remain employable, treasurers can guard against the risk of becoming obsolete as the years go by. They should take advantage of these changes in job description to adapt continuously and be able to switch to different types of work when the time comes. Why should treasurers not become finance directors (i.e., CFO) one day? To do so, they must work on their own training and not wait for careers to be handed to them. They need to forge their own careers. The associations should play the role of facilitator in this to the full by providing tailored training courses and information to its members. On the other hand, it is clear that each one of us should question ourselves and ensure that we have an attractive set of skills that are in demand. To attain this goal, we must undertake continuous professional development and take note of what is going on in the world outside. Far too few treasurers take an intelligent interest in their profession. They do not ask themselves the question of how to keep up with the changes. They seem rather passive, reactive and conservative, when they need to be quite the opposite: dynamic, proactive and progressive or innovative. This problem is a clear reflection of a mind-set that needs to be changed in a world that is constantly changing. Being able to question yourself and confront change management, moving out of your comfort zone, is an absolute priority for remaining and staying the course in treasury. Employability is more than ever the strategic challenge for all treasurers. You need to manage your career and also your set of skills so as always to remain as employable as possible. With the overload of work and the lack of time, it is a challenge to find yet more time to polish up your CV and present yourself to the best advantage. However difficult this may be, it is the best way of averting this risk. Giving advice is often difficult. However, no one can say they should not look carefully to the future and prepare for the risk of having to find another job. "Control your own destiny or someone else will control it for you" as Professor John W. Welch so rightly said.

The role of  the treasury association

EACT, the European Association of Corporate Treasurers and IGTA, the International Group of Treasury Associations at the worldwide level, would be well advised to consider the role that they could or should play to come to the aid of those of their members who lose their jobs. They should try to find out how they can best help them in times of difficulty. 

This help could start with waiving the membership fee for as long as a member is unemployed. Associations could also negotiate agreements with firms of headhunters to provide a free review or competency assessment of those of their members who have lost their jobs, to help them assess where they stand in the job market. A tie-up with these firms would keep them up to date with the requirements of businesses. This would enable them to modify the range of training courses and types of information and support provided to their members, tailoring it to changes in the financial jobs market as closely as possible. Many of them use their websites to offer jobs or submit applications from people seeking treasurer jobs.

Help could also take the form of being given ad-hoc tasks. This would mean they were actively working, and would keep them in the pool and take advantage of a temporary lull to apply their skills to the requirements of academic research or to other purposes helpful to the treasury association. By offering such a service, an association would earn the loyalty of its members, setting itself apart from the normal practices of other associations that are more passive in this respect. A number of treasurers seeking jobs end up as consultants. This is certainly one way to use the skills of an experienced treasurer, but perhaps not an end in itself.

The associations could also deliver soft-skills training to develop the other qualities and types of expertise needed for working in the profession today. Many associations deliver only technical training courses. But the associations first need to ask themselves the right questions: are we providing our members with appropriate and up-to-date information? The role is also about helping them to train themselves properly rather than telling them that their skills are not suited to the current market. I see the associations as having an obligation that goes far beyond just bringing together members of the same type of profession. 

Unfortunately, there is a risk of the network becoming too ‘virtual’, a fact that we have previously deplored. Many young treasurers see only the virtual part of networking, via LinkedIn or similar sites, forgetting the merits of real (physically present) contacts at gatherings. Webinars, videos and social networks can be extras, but they are never an alternative to people coming together in meetings. The lack of a network or the failure to maintain a network can be a serious problem when the bad times come, when the treasurer is looking for help in finding a new job.

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New services?

Associations are certainly not professional trade unions, but that does not stop them offering services and aid to their members. At a time when associations are struggling to retain their membership against a background of cost-cutting, they have the opportunity to make themselves useful by offering a new and natural benefit. That means they need to rethink their approach to training to produce more efficient treasurers who will be even more indispensable to companies and to finance departments. We need to start looking into this, and hope that the treasury associations will come up with a variety of solutions to help those of their members who have lost their jobs and are perhaps struggling to find new ones. If the associations do not do this, they will still be a resource for letting people know about their members’ skills and experience, for building up a professional network and demonstrating members’ abilities to their peers. In our view, not taking an active part in a treasury association is the best way of gradually becoming obsolete. The effort needs to come both from the member and from their association. Why should treasurers need to evolve and not their associations? We have already addressed the risks of ‘Uberisation’ of treasury associations. It should not be neglected if associations want to survive and keep growing.

At such times, moral support is in itself valuable to people looking for jobs. Feeling that you are receiving support in one way or another is in itself a comfort that should not be underestimated. We should never forget that disaster may be lurking round the next corner, and that tomorrow the same thing might happen to us.