The Treasury Recruitment Company Handbook – What Is Treasury?
Recently we hired some guys who are new to the world of treasury and they wanted to understand as quickly as possible the world of corporate treasury and treasury recruitment.
The first thing I did was to give them a copy of the Treasury Recruitment Company Handbook, this explains what treasury recruitment is about and helps them better understand;
- what Corporate Treasury is
- why a treasury department exists
- how a treasury department operates
- the typical structure of a treasury department
- typical job titles and responsibilities within corporate
The handbook also explains how we operate as a treasury recruitment company to support our clients and candidates we will cover this in greater detail in our next article.
She suggested that we share it with both our clients and candidates as they may find it useful when coaching someone who may be new to the treasury team or perhaps as training material for your finance team if they want to know what you guys actually do!
So extract 1 from the Treasury Recruitment Company Handbook describes;
“What Is Treasury & What is A Typical Treasury Department?”
Why does Treasury exist?
A Treasury department manages the financial risks that arise from the ongoing and future activities of a company whether they arise from the provision of services or sale of goods. In addition they assist in the finance strategy of a company through the management of cash and liquidity needs for the group.
This is a very basic description designed to give you a simple outline of a treasury department’s responsibility I created it to try and coach my junior colleagues and describe some of the roles and responsibilities that each position holds within a treasury department.
Now before I have an influx of LinkedIn Comments saying that I have missed something this is NOT AN EXTENSIVE description. The information is intended to give those who are fresh to the world of Corporate Treasury a basic idea of what a treasury department does.
At the end of article I have listed 35 Treasury Titles to demonstrate that there are a variety of other titles that also occur within treasury but they all come under the umbrella of Corporate Treasury.
Roles Within Treasury
Treasury Assistant – The Treasury Assistant role is predominantly an operational position. The role is heavily driven by the day to day operations of the Treasury department and month end procedures.
Responsibilities may include bank reconciliation’s, cash pool analysis, the review of payments and receipts and generally assisting the Treasury back office in the day to day operation to ensure efficiently.
Treasury Dealer/ Cash Manager – The Treasury Dealer will focus on front office and the day to day dealing activity for a department. Monies received by a company in whatever currency for the products they sell / services they provide need to be effectively managed and this is when treasury dealing takes place.
This means that the Treasury Dealer will seek out the best rate to convert any money received in a different currency into the company bank account. Also the Treasury Dealer will need to evaluate and constantly assess the potential of exposures that may arise from future cash payments i.e. they need to be aware and responsive to the financial markets and have an understanding on an ongoing basis of fluctuations and the volatility within the global financial markets.
Treasury Analyst – The Treasury Analyst will take responsibility for monitoring and analyzing the company’s cash position, portfolio investments and financial exchange activity. They will, on an ongoing basis review, monitor and control both short term and long term company investments and take active responsibility for recommending changes where and as required.
Treasury Accountant – This role is exactly what the title says! Accounting for Treasury transactions and they fulfill a middle-office function, they may become involved in hedging risk in so far as when the deals are executed in the front office they may be passed to the back office for settlement / agreement but they pass through the ‘middle office’ to be accounted for the effect they may have on the company balance sheet. Any inherent risks produced by dealing activity need to be assessed and effectively hedged whenever necessary.
Treasury Manager – In terms of seniority this is a mid-level management position within the Treasury department, it will often have staff responsibility where the Treasury Manager will mentor / manage junior members of staff e.g. Treasury Dealer and Treasury Analyst.
This will usually be an operational role where you will manage the Treasury department itself on a day-to-day basis i.e. planning cash management activity, assessing dealing needs and running the department. However the Treasury Manager will sometimes but not always be involved in setting the core strategy for the Treasury department rather the Group Treasurer will set the strategy in consultation with the Treasury Manager.
Treasury Consultant – These will generally be individuals who possess a background within the corporate / banking treasury environment. In terms of experience they are likely to possess a minimum of 4 years treasury experience with no real maximum because the more experience bought to the role the more you can help clients!
Why a minimum of 4 years? If you have any less Treasury experience it is likely you will struggle to give meaningful advice / solutions to a Treasury department e.g. if a client is looking at a new treasury management system they will want to know the consultant has used a least one or treasury management systems themselves before telling them what system they should use.
Basically you don’t want people who pretend they know. Consultants should have been there, worn the T- shirt and understand Treasury.
Assistant Treasurer – Often there are two Assistant Treasurers in the group. Typically one may focus on front office activity and supervision of the operations team and the other Assistant Treasurer will oversee treasury control and the middle / back office functions.
Deputy Treasurer – There is often only one Deputy Treasurer. They will be the clearly defined second in charge of the treasury department they will be the absolute Deputy for the Group Treasurer. As deputy they have the same “sign-off” capability that the Treasurer possesses and would be expected to act in their stead whenever needed, whereas an Assistant Treasurer would be expected to refer many major decisions to / through their Group Treasurer.
International / Regional Treasurer – This position often has a number of similarities to that of Deputy Treasurer however they will usually report into a Global / Group Treasurer and will not be number two in the overall group treasury function. It will be considered a senior treasury role but they will have specific responsibility for an area linked to geography, global financial markets, group risk etc.
Group Treasurer – This person is the overall head of the Treasury function.
They usually report directly to the Finance Director / CFO and they will set the strategic direction of treasury and lead the treasury team. Ultimately they will take complete responsibility for the effective management of all treasury and cash management operations for the company.
Examples of Job Titles within Treasury
Please be aware I have not separated titles into European and American titles and the titles below are not ordered according to seniority.
Treasury Management
- Group Treasurer
- SVP / VP Treasury
- Corporate Treasurer
- Treasurer
- Head of Treasury and Risk (and Tax and Insurance)
- Assistant Treasurer
- Director of Treasury
- Treasury Manager / Manager of Treasury
- Director of Corporate Finance & Treasury
Front-office
- Chief Dealer
- Head of Trading
- VP Treasury
- Deputy Treasurer, Head of Treasury Operations
- Cash Manager
- Treasury Dealer
Middle-office
- Head of Risk
- Risk Manager/Director
- Head of Treasury Control
- Head of Treasury Risk Management
- Treasury Control Manager/Director
- Treasury IT or IS Director
- Treasury Systems Manager / Systems Analyst
- Treasury Accountant
- Treasury Analyst
Cash Management
- (Global) Cash Manager
- Head of (Global) Cash
- Director of (Global) Cash
Back-office
- Treasury Operations Manager/Director
- Settlement Manager
- Payments Analyst
- Payment Manager
- Accounts Manager
Other
- Director of International Treasury
- MD / President of Corporate Treasury Center
- Treasury Assistant
I hope this article is helpful please contact us if you require further advice I am always happy to offer any advice you may need.
Look out for the next excerpt from the MR Recruitment Handbook explaining our treasury recruitment methodology.
If you want any more advice then we are only a phone call away please feel free to call Mike Richards or any of the Treasury Recruitment Company team to discuss any of your Treasury Recruitment needs.
