FP&ATreasury Management
December 1, 2021

Bridging the Gap Between Treasury and FP&A 

By Nilly EssaidesTechnological advances are fueling the convergence of once-disparate finance processes, as they increasingly rely on the same tools to execute critical processes. In addition, faced with continued disruption in business, economic and financial conditions, CFOs expect finance organizations to contribute greater value through faster and more insightful decision-support. To do so effectively, legacy silos among different areas of finance must be dismantled. Going Beyond Best Practice to Process Innovation Nowhere is the need to bridge barriers more urgent than…
Treasury Management
November 3, 2021

True Grit in Treasury: Hiring People With Perseverance and Passion

Hear Medtronic FX risk manager Tim Husnik explain why grit is an essential quality.Medtronic senior treasury director Tim Husnik is proud that everyone on the FX risk management team he leads innovates, solves problems, experiments, creates and builds. He says that’s a big change from the days when treasury was viewed as a tactical team, rather than the strategic partner it is today. In the video interview below, he says that to find talent with the right stuff, he looks…
BankingTreasury Management
October 21, 2021

Rough Road: Overcoming Post-Merger Integration Hurdles and Headaches

Insights and lessons from two ATs who confronted challenges including culture and tight deadlines. Low interest rates and plenty of cash on their balance sheets suggest large multinational companies will continue growing through M&A, challenging even experienced assistant treasurers (ATs) who tend to handle many finance-related integration issues. Two ATs of companies at the tail end of mergers each recounted at a recent meeting the long list of projects they faced to integrate elements of the merging businesses, including treasury management…
COVID-19Treasury Management
October 21, 2021

Work in Progress: Finance Teams Strive to Make Hybrid Models Work

The gradual and partial return to offices in a hybrid work world presents challenges and some potential opportunities. The hybrid work model many corporates were leaning toward last spring as the vaccine rollout began and infection rates dropped appears to have solidified as companies confronted the curveball sent by the Delta Covid-19 variant. Some treasury team members are itching to return while others are lobbying to stay home; with staff turnover reaching all-time highs at some companies, it’s critical to find…
RegionalTreasury Management
October 18, 2021

Payoffs From ‘Preaching the Gospel of Global Treasury Operations’

Partnering with global business services (GBS) helped one treasury team boost cash visibility and achieve consistency.Companies expanding globally have often left regional affiliates with their own treasury back offices to support the local business, resulting in fragmentation of the treasury function and costly inefficiencies. That takes time away from corporate treasury that could be spent addressing more strategic issues.   “Preaching the gospel of global treasury operations,” the assistant treasurer (AT) of one NeuGroup member company said, required convincing local…
Enterprise Risk ManagementTreasury Management
September 30, 2021

Treading Carefully: Growing List of Risks Moves ERM to the Forefront

Treasury teams communicating with the board on financial risk need a common language. NeuGroup’s longstanding enterprise risk management (ERM) group has nearly doubled in size in less than a year, perhaps unsurprising given the relentless unfolding of political, environmental, health and financial risks worldwide, and global companies’ likely exposure to many of them. Assistant treasurers in a recent meeting compared the roles their treasury departments take within ERM and got insight from the head of ERM at a Fortune 500 technology…
COVID-19Treasury Management
July 29, 2021

Free Lunch as Bait: Trying to Make Returning to Offices Appetizing

Another challenge: filling open positions when many applicants won’t accept jobs requiring extensive time in the office.More than one company in the NeuGroup network is trying to make returning to the office a bit more appealing to workers whose managers are requiring them to start commuting again—at least for part of the work week. One method: offer employees the proverbial free lunch (it’s not truly free if you have to come in to get it). This morsel emerged at one…
COVID-19Treasury Management
June 24, 2021

Hot Desks, Hybrids and Introverts: Managing Post-Pandemic Work 

Takeaways on talent management as 100% remote work gives way to hybrid models and new hiring challenges.The transition from completely remote work to whatever comes next—back to the office, work at home, a bit of both—is in full swing across companies in the NeuGroup Network. The topic is generating lots of interest at meetings as finance teams plot a course for post-pandemic work that will in many cases be unlike what work life resembled pre-pandemic.NeuGroup founder and CEO Joseph Neu…
TechnologyTreasury Management
June 17, 2021

Treasury Help Wanted: Junior Members With Skills Beyond Finance

Members of NeuGroup for High Potentials also discuss the value of the Certified Treasury Professional Designation. At a meeting this spring, NeuGroup’s High Potentials group discussed critical skills and career management that included observations on the value of the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) designation and current hiring challenges facing treasury teams. Following are takeaways from NeuGroup’s Andy Podolsky, who moderated the session. A skills checklist. The meeting included a survey about what skills members believe every treasury professional should possess. Highlights: FX…
COVID-19Treasury Management
June 10, 2021

Hard Work: Creating a Flexible Workplace Combining Office and Remote

Finance teams balancing worker desires and corporate needs favor hybrid models, but the details are a work in progress.Companies’ timelines for returning to the office vary widely, according to assistant treasurers at recent meeting of NeuGroup’s Assistant Treasurers’ Leadership Group. Some are scheduling returns imminently while others only tentatively plan to return next fall. There was consensus, however, that requiring everybody to come back all at once is probably no longer feasible. Still, remote work’s advantages are likely outweighed by…