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Justin Jones

NeuGroup News
February 26, 2021

Neugroup Celebrates Black History Month With Meetings About Making a Difference

This February, NeuGroup held a series of meetings focused on promoting diversity & inclusion.  Supporting minority communities and having a real impact while fulfilling treasury’s many roles within a company is a challenge that many corporates are now confronting. As a part of NeuGroup’s celebration of Black History Month, a number of our various peer groups and working groups hosted conversations and presentations in the last few weeks on how members can make a difference.  Impact investing. Earlier in the month, CNote, a women-led impact investment platform, presented at a NeuGroup Treasurers’ Group of Mega-Caps interim monthly meeting on their unique, technology-based solution.  The interactive session discussed…
Justin Jones
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BankingDiversity & InclusionInvestment Management
February 25, 2021

Treasury’s Key Role in ServiceNow’s Commitment to Racial Equity

ServiceNow has turned to RBC to create a $100 million fund to support Black homebuyers and communities.ServiceNow in late January unveiled a $100 million “racial equity fund”—in the form of a separately managed account— that will be managed by RBC Global Asset Management’s impact investing team. In mid-February, during Black History Month, ServiceNow senior treasury director Tim Muindi, who played a leading role in the process, described the project to other NeuGroup members who work at high-growth tech firms. ServiceNow…
Justin Jones
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Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
February 25, 2021

Bridging the Gap With A Hybrid Solution for Cash Flow Forecasting

One NeuGroup member’s solution for more accurate quarterly forecasting combines old school and new school.Accurate long-term cash flow forecasting may be treasury’s white whale, and while the hunt is certainly far from over, assistant treasurers at recent NeuGroup meeting heard about a solution for producing medium-term forecasts.Lack of balance. At the meeting, one AT told the group he is having issues balancing two standard methods for cash forecasting in the short- and long-term. The short-term system forecasts two weeks in…
Justin Jones
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Cash & Working CapitalTalking ShopTax
February 25, 2021

Talking Shop: Allowing Direct Debits for Payroll Tax

Member question: “For those of you who use ADP for payroll in the US, do you allow them to do direct debits on your bank accounts, specifically for payroll tax payments?” Peer answer 1: “We just converted to direct debit with ADP in the US. Happy to put you in touch with the team that evaluated and executed the project.” Peer answer 2: “We allow direct debits for both payroll and payroll tax. We fund to a separate, stand-alone payroll bank account that is…
Justin Jones
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COVID-19Risk Management
February 23, 2021

Risk Managers Who Seek Gray Rhinos and Don’t Call Them Black Swans

Some enterprise risk managers call unexpected but predictable events gray rhinos and avoid the term black swan.As awful, disruptive and devastating as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, it’s not worthy of being called a black swan, according to more than one pundit. They include the man who made the term famous: Nassim Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” whose subtitle is “The Impact of the Highly Improbable.” Unlike a black swan event—unpredictable, with massive impact— the argument goes, the pandemic,…
Justin Jones
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FunctionalRisk Management
February 23, 2021

Squeezed for Time: Internal Auditors Presenting to Audit Committees

How auditors make sure their voices are heard when their time before the AC is limited.Internal auditors often get squeezed for time when it comes time to appear before the audit committee (AC) of the board of directors. Given that reality, some members of NeuGroup’s Internal Auditors’ Peer Group (IAPG) have devised other ways to make sure their views are heard—or read—by members of the AC. Following are some takeaways on the subject discussed at a recent IAPG meeting. Short…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsTalking Shop
February 23, 2021

Talking Shop: Yes or No When Moody’s Asks for Dealer Agreements?

Member question: “Moody’s is asking us to provide our dealer agreements for our commercial paper program. Historically we have not provided private agreements. Are you seeing this also and if so, are you providing the agreements? “For what it’s worth, Moody’s is saying they want it to see the settlement period language in the document. We have provided the private placement memorandum which contains the binding settlement language.“We have not provided the dealer agreement and are pushing back on the…
Justin Jones
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Capital MarketsRisk Management
February 18, 2021

Swap Rates and the C-Suite: Making the Case for Floating-Rate Debt

Low fixed interest rates may make it harder—but not impossible—to convince management to swap to floating.Interest rates may be ticking up, but their historically low level is one reason some treasury teams may face difficulty convincing senior management to swap more of their company’s debt stack to floating rates from fixed. “It’s a hard time to argue to do it given where long-term rates are,” one NeuGroup member said at a recent meeting.“When the fixed-rate environment is this attractive, it’s…
Justin Jones
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Capital AllocationCash & Working CapitalCOVID-19
February 18, 2021

Cash Cushions and Covid: Retailers Not Yet Ready To Declare Victory

Retail treasurers returning to offense with share repurchases and dividends are proceeding with caution.A growing number of retailers in the NeuGroup Network are spending or preparing to spend some of the excess cash they raised at the beginning of the pandemic on share repurchases and dividends. But most treasurers at these retailers remain cautious and conservative as they return to playing offense—not surprising given that these companies were among the worst impacted by lockdowns and social distancing. Declare victory? “One…
Justin Jones
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BankingESGTalking Shop
February 18, 2021

Talking Shop: Handling Grant and Expense Payments for a Foundation

Member question: “How is your company handling grant and expense payments for its foundation? Is this handled leveraging existing company processes, tools and teams or outsourced to service providers, such as Foundation Source, etc.? “We’ve outgrown the manual check process and need to scale up here and are curious to learn how you manage this.” Peer answer 1: “Our foundation accounts are with our concentration bank and managed by specific individuals in our corporate team. “We have raised the question…
Justin Jones
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