You may or may not have heard, but our first Treasurers of Tomorrow event was held yesterday morning in a beautiful office in Soho.
Yes, we drank coffee, we ate pastries, and we chewed the fat.
But we also connected through our common passion for treasury. The ambition in the room was palpable, with everyone eager to contribute and have their say while also listening and riffing on shared ideas.
The task at hand was to develop a 100-day plan as a new treasurer in a multinational hospitality business, building a cash flow forecast from the ground up.
The discussion started with the familiar concept of working capital cycles and considering which technology we would need to bring the cash flow forecast to life.
A slew of complaints about treasury systems used in current and previous roles ensued. The question then became: is it that the perfect platform does not exist, or is it that companies make the wrong choice when they are choosing their TMS? Are they sold on the extra features of the platform, rather than solving the problem they are trying to fix?
We collectively decided that, even though this is the basis of many cash flow forecasts, adding a system into the mix at this early stage would be time-consuming to set up, and the likely reliability of such a forecast could be low. This speaks volumes about system providers who often make the onboarding process so long and onerous that users are put off before they’ve even started.
The conversation then pivoted from systems to people. There are individuals in the business who have the information we need; we just need a way to extract that information from them.
One suggestion, of course, was cake. But another, more waistline-friendly suggestion, was to approach the relationship armed with the work and analysis you have already completed. Demonstrating your credibility and your will to make this a joint exercise can help. Creating a forecast collaboratively between treasury and the local business units would yield the best outcome.
Also, everyone loves to feel like an expert. If we can provide the bones of the forecast and the team can use their knowledge and experience to improve it, it’s a win on both sides.
WAIT… now the conversation took a turn. We’ve dove in and started building a cash flow forecast in the format that we are used to, but we haven’t clarified who will be using it and for what purpose.
We jumped out of our proverbial rabbit hole and decided that, before we start building, we should crowdsource the requirements of the cash forecast and subsequent reporting so we could build with the end use case in mind.
THE END 🙂
Although this is just a flavor of what went down in our session yesterday, it was fascinating to see these treasurers navigating this exercise together and thinking through their decisions. Writing a 100-day plan is something we will likely all have to do at some point when starting a new role, and similarly, implementing a cash flow forecast.
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I eagerly look forward to our next event, where we can dive into a new challenge together. Sign up for the Treasurers of Tomorrow community HERE to hear about the next session!