Treasury management: How to keep control in a company.

The treasury is one of the aspects of greatest care and relevance within companies. Its importance is of such magnitude that among accounting services it could be considered as the backbone of a business. This is due to the power attributed to it in terms of coordinating all operations related to the monetary flow.

Treasury role

Large corporations often give control of the treasury department to a chief financial officer. In the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this function is carried out by an accountant. That is why, in Colombia, a country characterized by its high number of entrepreneurs, it is not surprising to observe a large number of people interested in learning day by day about this matter.

Even so, the accounting firm in Bogotá, for example, has a wide variety of professionals with extensive accounting and financial experience. At the end of the day, an expert advice is always the most advisable.

However, it is not enough that the owners of the companies understand the processes that contain the administrative and accounting tasks. This is because they must also participate in strategies related to treasury operations.

In this sense, the objective of the treasurer function will always be to optimize the flow of purchases and sales by controlling liquidity, as well as managing the respective budgets to meet pending payments. In addition, this feature allows you to save capital to drive growth strategies.

Basic recommendations for managing the treasury of a company

Having a good cash flow is essential to be able to respond in the event of contingencies or to take advantage of investment opportunities. It is important to know the fundamental measures to manage the treasury within a business efficiently:

1. Stick to a defined treasury budget: the priority is represented by the planning and execution of payments and collections. An optimal strategy that guarantees cash flow, avoids the lack of liquidity to comply with commitments and obligations, avoiding surcharges or penalties.

 

2. Encourage a good client portfolio: establish a dynamic in which your clients settle their invoices in terms of no more than 30 days, extending those terms only if necessary. This will also allow meeting commitments (payroll, taxes, suppliers, credits, and others) just in time.

 

3. Create strategies to promote the prompt payment of invoices: stimulate your clients through discount or bonus promotions so that they pay their invoices before the deadlines. This tends to greatly benefit cash flow.

 

4. Management of electronic media: automate banking procedures and communicate with customers and suppliers through electronic resources. This allows operations to be managed remotely without having to travel to carry out procedures, and in turn saves time and money.

 

5. Have a billing program: billing software is vital to speed up processes and reduce collection delays. In the market there are multiple tools that also simplify accounting, collections, payments, and investments. The most advisable thing is to determine which is the one that best suits the needs of each business.

 

6. Debt restructuring: an alternative to meet financial commitments can be the payment of credits and debts through a new bank loan. Only in the cases that are necessary, this measure can represent an advantage by allowing to increase terms and decrease interest.

In short, the treasury is a fundamental part of the companies, an effective management of this area allows taking short, medium, and long-term forecasts, in addition to providing an environment of tranquility and stability to the company, preparing the conditions conducive to growth.