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New style post executive education in Treasury management & Corporate Finance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
| 06-06-2018 | by Herbert Rijken |
For more than 20 years the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is running a postgraduate executive program in Treasury Management. The educational design of this program is unique in treasury management education. It aims to stimulate development as an academic professional. It mixes useful academic knowledge for practitioners with hands on knowledge useful in daily practice of treasury professionals. To make this happen the program is at an academic master level and much time spent in interactive sessions with various academic and professional experts in the field of treasury management and corporate finance.
The curriculum has recently been modified for a better fit with young finance professionals willing to boost their career with high Master level post graduate executive education.
1) The curriculum has been re-organized in 6 clear defined modules which all can be completed in 1.5 years.
2) The scope of the curriculum has been broadened by a more clear focus on Corporate Finance in 2 modules, so the name of the program has become Treasury Management & Corporate Finance.
3)In September 2018 this program will be given entirely in English to connect to the increasingly larger community of non-Dutch speaking finance professionals in The Netherlands. But also, English is becoming more common in the treasury business.
4) The curriculum has been designed in such a way exemptions apply to applicants with Dutch RA and RC qualifications.
After finishing the program you will receive the certificate of a Registered Treasurer which is well recognized in the treasury community. Partners of the program are KPMG, Orchard Finance, PwC and Zanders Treasury & Finance Solutions. Senior affiliates lecture in the program. The program is also strategic partner of the Dutch Association of Corporate Treasurers and TreasuryXL.
For more information see our website:
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Cyber Security and Business Intelligence
| 5-6-2018 | TIS |
To see full interview click here
Content originally posted on TIS on 15/1/2018
Cash flow forecasting – more than just safeguarding liquidity
| 4-6-2018 | Gerald Dorrer | TIPCO Treasury & Technology GmbH |
The easy way to achieve modern forecasting
Many of the data needed for cash flow forecasting already exist in various systems. ERP systems are a particularly efficient data source. For example, this is where you’ll find all of your receivables and payables, including the associated due dates and terms of payment. These data alone will already provide much of what you need. You can also find other influential factors here such as the volumes of regular salary payments. Modern forecasting systems already come complete with an interface to ERPs, making it possible to import these data at the press of a button and take them into account in your forecasts.
Another helpful tool is predictive analytics. Although the statistical methods which predictive analytics are based on have already existed for quite some time, modern technologies now make it possible to use these in practice. Predictive analytics is the key to leveraging historical data to predict future developments with an amazing degree of accuracy. A good example of the advantages offered by this procedure is in the case of a company with seasonal fluctuations in terms of its revenues. If you already have a target figure for revenues in the coming year, then predictive analytics will be able to rapidly and accurately break this down into sales for the individual months. But far more complex scenarios are also conceivable, such as the early identification of trends by means of automated analyses of social media data which can ultimately be translated into cash flows.
Flexibility
But which factors characterise a modern forecasting system?
Besides the criteria mentioned above (a connection to existing data sources and predictive analytics), flexibility is the most important factor – in all respects.
A modern system will allow you to freely define the structure of your forecasting within just a few minutes. Regardless of whether you need standard forecasting of operational and non-operational payments and financial cash flows or whether your company mainly engages in project-related business, you should be able to freely define the structure and the details of your cash flow categorisation. On the other hand, it should also be possible to rely on templates provided by the system in order to start the process using a structure tailored to your specific industry.
At the same time, modern systems also allow you to be flexible in terms of your forecasting horizon. Everything should be possible: from short-term day-by-day forecasting required by banks for companies facing critical cash flow bottlenecks, to long-term forecasting with a horizon of several years. Top-of-the-line systems can even offer you the option of mixing daily, weekly and monthly data in order, for example, to forecast the next seven days on a daily basis, the following twelve weeks on a weekly basis and the remaining nine months on a monthly basis. You can specify how the weekly and monthly values are automatically distributed. This means that you are free to define how previous figures with a low degree of granularity appear at the weekly or daily level after the next data rollover.
Flexibility is also required when it comes to displaying the data. Modern systems offer you several features which enable you to investigate the causes of significant differences between the current and earlier forecasts. For example, switch between the various levels of granularity, whether in terms of the structure or the timeline, or compare forecast and actual figures, or even forecasts from different points in time. Thanks to these flexible display options, expensive analysis tools are no longer necessary; all you need to do is take a quick look at your system.
More than just safeguarding liquidity
The primary purpose of forecasting of course remains ensuring sufficient liquidity. Based on your current cash reserves, the cash flows captured for future time periods are aggregated to provide you with the forecast of cash available at the end of every period. This makes it possible to quickly spot cash bottlenecks.
If your system also offers you the option of managing your credit facilities and their due dates, and integrating these into your cash flow forecasting, then this will enable you to quickly determine when credit lines will need to be drawn on or when they will need to be increased. This is just one of the many aspects which make it clear how significantly you can be supported by a well-designed system.
Systems which also permit you to forecast on a currency-differentiated basis offer considerable additional benefits. This feature will allow you to capture all cash flows in the original transaction currency. The advantage here is that, as soon as you have prepared the forecast, you not only have an overview of the development of liquidity but also of your FX risk exposures. If your system also allows you to manage FX hedge transactions, a comparison of FX payments and these hedge transactions will enable you to determine your unhedged FX exposure in no time at all. The latest systems can even automatically generate hedge proposals based on the unhedged exposure which are then automatically forwarded to your trading system in a workflow-based process once these have been confirmed and approved.
Conclusion
Technological progress has made preparing a cash flow forecast easier today than ever before. Even if no liquidity bottlenecks are currently likely at your company, due to the ongoing reduction in the expenses involved, it nonetheless makes little sense to take unnecessary risks and to pass up on the advantages that comprehensive cash flow forecasting offers.
Gerald Dorrer – Manager TIPCO Treasury & Technology GmbH
Content originally posted on Cash & Treasury Management File on 26/3/2018
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