According to several 2014 surveys most treasury functions lack success measures.

By the end of 2014 many companies held “excess” cash prompting investors to ask hard questions about a company’s future best use of this asset. Since legitimate uses could include cash distributions in the form of dividends or share buybacks, such uses would leave less to meet 2015’s internal needs. 2015 market forecasts show a rise in market rates or rates becoming more volatile. Also, compliance will exert a stronger pull on banks as they conform to various Basel III rules like liquidity coverage requirements. In turn, a bank’s reluctance to lend “enough” may affect a company’s access to external liquidity.

Bottom line: access to capital, market exposure and various costs will become larger issues if there is a significant mis-alignment of uses of funds with sources of funds.

Since what gets measured gets managed, Treasury’s apparent inability to define success to date could suggest difficulty when it comes time to contribute to the company’s 2015 business goals, especially if they involve liquidity and risk. Just because performance under a prior set of market or industry constraints was successful is no guarantee of treasury’s future success, especially if treasury must rely on “duct tape and a can opener’ to get the job done.

During this presentation Bruce C. Lynn, CTP and a Managing Partner at the Financial Executives Consulting Group (FECG) will discuss:
• The year ahead and what to watch for
• Why treasury has been unsuccessful in defining “success” to date
• What a starter set of success measures could look like in 2015
• What company changes will be needed in order to measure success (hint: Treasury cannot go it alone)
• How to build a business case for change