Top 10 Trends of a Well Run Treasury Department

participate!

practice!

1. Understand that data has power to help drive decision making

“Most public entities say they don’t have the time to look at data or document any value found in it.”

-Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School

Electronic Payments

2. Has an active investment policy

is an ‘active Investment policy’?”

3. Balances liquidity with yield

3 Pillars of Public Funds Investing

SAFETY

LIQUIDITY

YIELD

Comparing the two “strategies”

Portfolio

expected return of

Increased expected return of

Moving from

Most importantly….this

been achieved without

return of

cash flow with liquidity management

Daily ins and outs of revenues

expenditures

The measurement & value of all your entity's cash

liquidity

Traditional Cash Flow Forecasting

Liquidity Displayed for Decision Making

Liquidity Displayed for Decision Making

Cash Forecasting

Every finance/treasury office does some sort of cash forecast but the way we have traditionally performed cash forecasting is likely the number one thing that’s keeping us from moving to a more active investment strategy. Our staff and banking partners are there and ready but it’s likely we don’t have the data that gives us the information and confidence to optimize our investments.

Essentially we don’t have the information and analytics that will tell me for how long and in what amounts the dollars I receive will be in my treasury for me to safely invest. (This is what we refer to as liquidity rather than cash flow).

5.

Knows the peer benchmarks

Banking Partners

Banking Partners

● The vast majority of banks that work with local governments have a wide range of options to help you invest your cash.

● If they don’t have all you need, they have affiliates that can help with the purchase and/or sale of treasury securities.

● Local government investment pools have an important role as a tool to implement a more active investment strategy.

Current Range of

7. Open to innovation

Logica Research (formerly Koski), March 2018; surveyed 2,000Americans ages 18-75.

8. Knows when to go out for a Request for Proposal (RFP)

9. Has a business resiliency plan to run decentralized

Business Continuity Planning

● Can can you develop, test, and maintain a plan to continue basic operations during and immediately after disruptive events?

● Covid showed we could perform many treasury functions remotely and we made the choice to work remotely or at least minimize staff in office working. What lessons learned are we incorporating?

● How does our treasury business continuity plan synch up with other financial functions in our government? (i.e. accounting, budget, purchasing)

● Do we have duplicative systems/processes in the event an issue with one of our financial institutions? (Could we make vendor payments from a secondary bank?)

10. Has fun and communicates success!