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 Situation
Solution
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SituationOn a daily basis, corporate treasury departments manage incoming and outgoing cash; invest, transfer, or borrow funds; and reconcile the cash activities with bank reports. With new technologies and additional accounting burdens, Chief Financial Officer's (CFOs) and treasurers are looking for ways to optimize liquidity while maximizing potential investment returns. Simultaneously, they must effectively manage risk and reduce operational costs while maintaining a high level of control and financial transparency. The traditional treasury model, in which the focus is on day–to-day transactions and automation, makes it difficult for treasury departments to attain these objectives. Following are some challenges in the traditional treasury model: | • | Treasurers manually work through multiple line-of-business (LOB) systems to copy data into Microsoft Office Excel documents, and this manual process can lead to duplication and human errors | | • | Financial information is stored in multiple locations, which impairs real-time visibility into data
| | • | Sensitive financial documents are shared through e-mail messages, which causes version control issues and can pose potential security threats
| | • | Manually intensive processes, such as cash forecasting and reconciliation, as well as poor document management, increase costs and compliance risks
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SolutionTreasury departments need a strategic treasury model that will help them improve operational procedures and optimize liquidity-maximizing returns and minimizing risks. A treasury and cash management solution built using the 2007 Microsoft Office system offers a strategic treasury model that provides corporate treasury users with a well-integrated tool that maximizes returns, effectively manages risk, and reduces costs, while maintaining better control and financial transparency. A solution based on the 2007 Microsoft Office system can help deliver: Enhanced Reporting and Analytics: | • | Consolidate disparate information into a central location, such as a dashboard
| | • | Enable consolidated views of information across accounts, geographies, systems, and currencies
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Streamlined Processes: | • | Automate data entry, consolidation, and manipulation
| | • | Streamline the process for resolving discrepancies through pre-populated forms
| | • | Offload long-running calculations from desktop computers by setting up server-side calculations for large spreadsheets
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Improved Document Management: | • | Strengthen security and reduce compliance risks through centralized storage, audit, access and version control; time stamping; and user-based access and rights
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BenefitsAdopting a treasury and cash management solution based on the Microsoft Office system can help companies attain the following benefits: | • | Make better and quicker decisions by providing real-time access to financial information, such as cash positions, exchange rates, and pending transactions and reconciliations
| | • | Reduce the time spent on investigating and reconciling data by providing consolidated view of information
| | • | Improve visibility into business data from non-integrated systems by enabling a consolidated view of financial information
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