Asian Corporate Treasuries Not Effective Enough Against Global Financial Crises, Says Reval
With the possible collapse of the eurozone causing companies globally to prepare for the impact of another financial crisis, only 11% of Asian corporate treasuries polled in a recent study said that their organisations are very effective, reports Reval, a provider of a comprehensive and integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for enterprise treasury and risk management (TRM).
The study, ‘The Effective Treasury’, was conducted by CFO Innovations in association with Reval. It surveyed nearly 200 CFOs, financial directors and treasurers from companies across various industries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China.
“With more than half of Asian companies reporting that their treasuries are adequate, we have to wonder: is adequate good enough to continue operating in an increasingly volatile and complex business environment?” asked Tony Singleton, Reval managing director, Asia-Pacific.
The study explores the processes and structures that respondents feel make the management of their organisations effective and very effective. Among these are the use of automated treasury management systems (TMS), significantly less reliance on spreadsheets, and practice of hedge accounting. With 68% of respondents saying they plan to improve their internal processes 45% rate web-based SaaS systems as the most important technology to consider when they next review how treasury technology can support effective treasury management.
According to the study, the most significant obstacle to effective treasury management is the tendency to view treasury as an operational rather than strategic function. “This sentiment is consistent across the globe, and represents a major driver for companies everywhere to improve their processes with a technology solution that enables strategic decision making across the enterprise,” noted Singleton. “This requires a flexible, easy-to-deploy solution that provides a deep and broad view of the financial picture and helps companies mitigate risk and meet evolving regulatory requirements in a timely fashion.”