Treasury Contrarian View: Treasurers Are Not Finance’s Strategic Partner (Yet)
Treasurers often say they have “a seat at the table” and act as strategic advisors to the CFO. Industry conferences echo the same mantra: treasury is strategic. But here’s the contrarian view: In many companies, treasury is still seen as an operational function—not a true strategic partner. And admitting that might be the first step toward change. Why Treasury Isn’t Seen as Strategic (Yet) The Path to Becoming Strategic Let’s Discuss We’ll gather views from CFOs, treasurers, and finance leaders—join the conversation and share your perspective! COMMENTS Lee-Ann Perkins, Treasury Masterminds Board Member, comments: My answers are from the point of view of the treasury maturity model. While I wholeheartedly agree that treasury should, and deserves to be a trusted strategic partner, the reality from my perspective is that most smaller companies are not there yet. If the industry adopts a Chief Treasury Officer, we may get the traction and support we require. Do you agree that treasury is not yet a true strategic partner? Why/why not?Yes. Day-to-day cash ops, reconciliations, and compliance consume capacity; under-resourcing keeps treasury reactive, siloed from commercial teams, and off-key decision agendas, which are traits of an operational, not strategic, function. What steps have you seen treasury teams take to elevate their role?Elevate the function by strengthening operations by clarifying roles with a RACI matrix, segregating duties, and automating to free capacity. Manage real-time liquidity/FX data and scenario planning, which enables us to translate analytics into board-ready narratives. The aim is to prove ROI through lower FX costs, optimized liquidity, and innovative financing. What would it take for Treasury to consistently earn a seat at the strategic table?CFO sponsorship and funding; distinct front/middle/back-office roles; a modern, treasury-owned data stack; a standing C-suite/board cadence that turns exposures into business stories; and KPIs that tie actions to enterprise value. Bojan Belejkovski, Treasury Masterminds Board Member, comments: I agree treasury is often seen as operational rather than strategic. But let’s be honest, part of the problem lies outside treasury. There are still CFOs who don’t truly know what treasury is, what it should do, or how it can evolve as a discipline. If leadership defines treasury narrowly as cash positioning and compliance, the function will never be seen as a partner. The turning point comes when treasurers begin owning real-time data, using AI to move from reactive reporting to predictive insights, and translating liquidity and risk into business-impact narratives. That’s when value becomes undeniable. But it also requires organizations, and CFOs in particular, to expand their view of treasury. Strategic partnership is a two-way evolution. Lorena Pérez Sandroni, Treasury Masterminds Board Member, comments: In my opinion, despite the evolution of treasury technology and access to data, many teams remain bogged down by manual processes, fragmented systems, and limited resources. But the real barrier isn’t just tools—it’s mindset. Too many treasury managers are reluctant to step out of their operational comfort zones. They focus on reporting exposures, reconciling accounts, and managing compliance, but struggle to “sell the story” behind the numbers—the strategic insights that could influence business decisions. Treasury has a unique vantage point: it sees liquidity risks before they materialize, understands the financial pulse of the company daily, and has access to data that could shape forward-looking strategies. Yet, without strong leadership to elevate these insights, treasury remains reactive, not proactive. To change this, we need a new kind of treasury leadership—one that: Until we, treasury leaders, embrace this shift, the function will continue to be seen as operational support rather than a strategic partner. The opportunity is there—but it requires courage, vision, and a willingness to lead beyond transactional routines and into enterprise-wide impact. Jessica Oku, Treasury Masterminds Board Member, comments: Q1: Do you agree that treasury is not yet a true strategic partner in most organizations? Why or why not? Yes. Many treasuries are still trapped in the “Operational Quadrant” of the Strategic Treasurer Impact Matrix (STIM framework I developed); managing transactions, reconciliations, and resolving daily liquidity issues. This drowns out their ability to be visible as strategic partners. We need more treasuries to move from back-office operators to a forward-looking enabler of growth and resilience. Q2: What steps have you seen treasury teams take to elevate their role? The most successful teams intentionally move into the “Influence & Insight” quadrants of the STIM framework. They automate repetitive tasks, implement real-time visibility tools, and deliver scenario modeling, funding strategies, and risk insights. They show how cash, liquidity, and funding decisions directly impact growth or resilience, and leadership listens to them. Q3: What would it take for treasury to consistently earn a seat at the strategic table? 2 things: visibility and voice. Visibility comes from dashboards, clear KPIs, and proactive communication. Voice comes from bringing insights, not just numbers, that shape business decisions. Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Mastermind is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below to get more information. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.
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Modernizing Treasury: The Hidden Costs of Sticking with Legacy Tools
This article is written by Treasury4 Legacy Treasury Tools get the job done … for the most part. What does it take to get there and what are you missing out on? Is there enough value in modern tools to motivate early adoption? The Long Road of Legacy Technology Legacy treasury tools are built to be flexible, but that flexibility comes at a cost. Setting up a new treasury management system (TMS) involves a long road of blueprinting, designing, gathering requirements, and implementation. The flexibility offered by most legacy systems is powered by blood, sweat, some tears, and often comes at a significant cost. This process also takes numerous months or even years to complete, depending on the scope. For far too long, this has been the norm. The Cost of Implementing a Treasury Management System There are two primary costs typically associated with setting up a TMS: These costs are critical. With the length of these implementations, estimates are rarely fixed bids and often run long and go over budget. Asking for and justifying the incremental cost is always a challenge. This happens because legacy TMS providers have various departments and teams with differing motivations. Their sales teams are motivated to sell the product and often get compensated on the recurring license, while the implementation team is measured by billable hours and utilization. These motivations usually only align when the implementation team has an existing backlog, which is rarely the case. Beyond the costs, implementing a TMS results in a significant toll on the internal treasury team. Doing both their daily work and project work often leads to burnout and multi-phase projects being halted due to the stress or cost of the project. This, combined with the reality that users only begin deriving value from the project after multiple phases of testing and completion, can cause a significant amount of stress. Doubling the amount of work for your treasury team can also lead to delays or cancellation of future phases — often for functionality that you have already licensed but can’t use without further implementations. A Refreshing Approach with Modern Treasury Tools With modern tools, this road is clearer. With banks, there is always some level of uncertainty, as their motivation often depends on who the client is. This deviation, however, is single digit weeks rather than multiple months as seen with legacy platforms. Key relationship banks are often the first to get connected and at the end of the day, these are the banks that bring the greatest value. This means that while the integrations are in progress, treasurers can begin using a modern treasury management system immediately and start getting value. Most users even find that using the new system alongside their legacy processes for the week or two of transition to be interesting and informative as they can clearly see the improvement. Reporting in these modern tools is flexible, allowing for real use of these modern platforms. This flexibility empowers users to embrace modern reporting tools, automating numerous manual processes that used to require periodic downloads and manual manipulation via spreadsheets even with a legacy treasury platform. Furthermore, these modern tools allow for custom reporting owned by treasury users without input from IT, so the business can action adjustments to standard reports and make necessary tweaks to truly embrace these systems and maximize value. Modern treasury tools vary with what functions are live for customers. Often, FX, debt and investment offerings are provided later. Given that these new platforms are typically built to integrate, this information can be integrated from various sources, including ERP, accounting, or treasury systems to provide a complete picture of cash even when source data comes from various sources. Choosing to implement a modern TMS is not an easy decision for many who have dealt with manual processes and numerous spreadsheets to perform treasury operations, particularly those who have been burnt by aggressive timelines and missed milestones with other technologies. Embracing modern technology, growing with the provider as they build out their platform, and being a trailblazer is a leap of faith in many ways. When treasury teams take the leap, however, they can reap the following benefits: Also Read Join our Treasury Community Treasury Masterminds is a community of professionals working in treasury management or those interested in learning more about various topics related to treasury management, including cash management, foreign exchange management, and payments. To register and connect with Treasury professionals, click [HERE] or fill out the form below. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.