Cash & Working Capital
February 2, 2023

Cash Leadership Councils: Leading the Charge to a Cash Culture

Finance leaders and business heads collaborate on improving working capital management. “Working capital is going to be a major challenge in 2023,” a member of NeuGroup for Global Cash and Banking said recently to kick off a session taking place as rising recession fears intensify the pressure on treasury to free up cash. The member is not alone: working capital optimization ranked as a top-five priority for treasurers in NeuGroup’s 2023 Finance & Treasury Agenda Survey​. To improve working capital management, members at this session…
Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
July 28, 2022

The Undiminished Prominence of Excel

Why the overwhelming majority of treasuries producing cash flow forecasts still use Excel and won’t likely stop anytime soon. Despite decades of technological advances, Excel remains the predominant tool that treasury teams use to generate cash flow forecasts, according to the results of NeuGroup’s May 2022 Cash Forecast Survey (see chart below). That includes teams that have a treasury management system but use Excel along with it because the TMS doesn’t offer the same degree of modeling flexibility. Yes, a…
Treasury Management
June 16, 2022

Former Intel CFO: Don’t Wait for an Invite to Impact Strategy

George Davis (left), here with NeuGroup founder Joseph Neu, urged treasurers gathered at a tech summit in California to dream big and weigh in on strategy. In a keynote address referencing iconic daydreamer Walter Mitty, George Davis—the former CFO of Intel and Qualcomm and the former CFO and treasurer of Applied Materials—urged dozens of treasurers attending NeuGroup’s Tech Strategic Finance Summit Treasurer Day to dream big, take risks and not wait for invitations to apply treasury’s valuable perspective and skill set to a…
D&IInvestment Management
February 10, 2022

Investing in Black Communities: Impact of ServiceNow’s $100M Fund

ServiceNow treasurer Tim Muindi reviews how a racial equity fund is making a difference.A year ago during Black History Month, ServiceNow’s Tim Muindi—a senior treasury director at the time—shared with other NeuGroup members his role in launching a $100 million racial equity fund managed by RBC Global Asset Management. The fund’s objectives centered on boosting homeownership, affordable housing and entrepreneurship in 10 Black communities where ServiceNow employees live and work. A year later, Mr. Muindi—now the software company’s treasurer—sat down…
Capital AllocationTalking Shop
February 10, 2022

Talking Shop: Optimizing Models for Capital Structure and Allocation

Editor’s note: NeuGroup’s online communities provide members a forum to pose questions and give answers. Talking Shop shares valuable insights from these exchanges, anonymously. This exchange is from NeuGroup for Growth-Tech Treasurers. Member questions: “I am working on optimal target capital structure (debt/equity mix) analysis and framework. Any ideas on approach/model? “I’m also working on creating a capital allocation policy and framework. Any sample allocation policies and framework approach or model ideas would be great.” Peer answer 1: “There are several…
TechnologyTreasury Management
January 26, 2022

Looking Forward: Five Thoughts on the Future of Treasury

Balancing efficiency and value, and managing people vs. technology, will be key priorities for finance in the future.By Joseph NeuProviding foresight on the future of treasury is always a crowd-pleaser with NeuGroup members. During sessions over the last few months, I had the privilege of sharing my current thoughts on the topic and hearing member reactions. A shared passion project. Most of these sessions (and more may be coming) have been done in partnership with Jean Furter, now treasurer of Poly,…
BankingTechnology
January 19, 2022

Eye-Opening: A Tech Treasurer Embraces APIs To See Cash in Real Time

A growing tech company connects with FinLync as it juggles cash, debt and a need to improve visibility.Real-time cash management made possible by wider adoption of APIs by banks has provided one tech treasurer the daily visibility into the company’s bank account balances that he craved for years. “This has become more important to us not just since Covid, but since tax reform in 2017 when we were sitting on a couple billion dollars offshore, like most tech companies,” he told peers…
TechnologyTreasury Management
December 15, 2021

The Path to Treasury Value Creation: Automation as an Ally

Technology holds the key to treasury transformation. So how can people on treasury teams add value in the future?The strategic value that treasury teams provide to corporations depends in large part on the ability of finance leaders to adopt and adapt to technology that is transforming treasury while at the same time developing the skills and expanding the roles of the people on those teams. That takeaway surfaced during discussions on the future of treasury by Jean Furter, the treasurer of tech…
Cash & Working CapitalTechnology
November 3, 2021

Food for Treasury Thought: A Recipe to Set Minimum Cash Levels

One high-growth tech treasurer shares the multiple ingredients he uses to cook up a cash level that hits the spot. Every corporate treasurer needs to have a point of view about the level of cash their company should keep on hand.  Too much and activist investors may begin targeting the company’s stock. But wind up with too little to weather an emergency and the treasurer could be looking for a new job.   Members of NeuGroup for Growth-Tech Treasurers tackled this…
October 29, 2021

Growth-Tech Interim Meeting – M&A

About this meeting One member of the Growth Tech Treasurers’ Peer Group will address the challenges they faced with a significant acquisition earlier this year. Some of these challenges will include: Integrating corporate culture: Centralized vs. Decentralized Compatibility (or not) of systems (e.g., ERP, TMS, etc…) Headcount, retaining key employees, and maintaining legacy systems The complexity of managing bank accounts Intercompany debt management Pain points from analog problems: Signatories in multiple countries; Legacy paper contracts could be decades old Reconciling…