You may be aware of a story that emerged in the news recently about a web developer who emailed her boss explaining that she wasn’t going to make it in for work because she needed to, “focus on [her] mental health.” (Metro, 10 July 2017) It was the boss’ reply, however, that made the story go viral. “I just wanted to personally thank you for sending emails like this”, went the boss’ reply, commending his member of staff for “highlighting the importance of using sick days for mental health.” (ibid) While not many of us would dream of hitting send

Now into its fifth year, the ACT’s annual survey of contemporary treasurers has been published and provides some enlightening information. Entitled, ‘The Business of Treasury’, the report provides data and findings from a survey on a wide range of issues such as board reporting, the strategic impact of treasurers, sources of funding and the importance of treasury qualifications. The survey randomly selected 196 qualified treasurers from the ACT’s membership base who gave anonymised answers, which give us all the opportunity to look at what’s at the forefront of treasurers’ minds, what the profession needs and how it’s developing. The full

As if you needed reminding, there have been some momentous socio-political events from all corners of the globe in the last 12 months; Brexit and the subsequent reaction from the EU, the election of President Trump and the rise of the populist-Right on the continent continue to mould the zeitgeist. Gauging the impact of these events on the world of business and finance is, to say the least, tricky. Some corporates might be able to cite hard facts of the impact from these geopolitical events. Others perhaps remain tight-lipped and refrain from drawing conclusions until more time has passed and

As a member of the Future Leaders working group I wanted to look at some of the member benefits offered and understand how relevant/ useful they were to me. I’ve written a diary of my month using the ACT Career Hub – I hope it inspires you to take a look at this member benefit. As an AMCT who attends events and reads The Treasurer, I was keen to see what added value there was in accessing the career hub. I’m not looking for a new job, so I didn’t want to use the CV aspects of the career hub,

Managing a finance team that is spread out across various locations can present challenges, even for the most experienced person. The geographical dispersion of teams has become increasingly common in the modern workplace, but how do you help remote workers feel part of a team? Setting up global virtual teams who were fully part of building (and then delivering) a finance strategy falls within my working experience, as does building a sense of inclusion for a large shared service centre located far from business operations. Here are a few useful tips from what I’ve learnt over the years to help

Cash management is often seen as the routine part of the job, the bit where process can be perfected and no-one in the company takes much interest until something goes wrong, like a supplier is not paid. That is a myth! Cash management is the glue which holds the company together and it is the start of the whole strategic process. It’s also a way for the treasurer to get their foot in the door of operations and really find out what is going on. Funding the company is arguably the only job which the treasurer must always get right

Mentoring provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, best practice and open discussion. The ACT’s Mentoring Scheme provides an opportunity for more experienced members to help other members. It provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, best practice and open discussion. To find out more about the scheme visit treasurers.org/mentoring The mentoring scheme provides useful documents and information about how to get the best out of your mentoring relationship. The role of the mentor The role of a mentor is to contribute towards your mentee’s career aspirations through careful guidance and support. The mentor uses their experience, expertise,

The 2016 joint annual poll conducted by financial cloud software provider Kyriba and the ACT found that 62% of respondents had been targets of either internal or external fraud over the past year – up from 43% in the previous survey. But while fraud prevention would, on that basis, appear to be a priority area for improvement, respondents indicated they were far more focused on honing their skills in other areas, such as: cash and liquidity management; cash-flow forecasting; treasury automation; and risk management. The survey revealed that resource-strapped treasurers face the concurrent issues of growing operational complexity, more onerous