How to prepare for the Treasurer Test

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We recommend to make the test in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed. There are more questions than you can answer in the time that’s available. If you don’t know the answer on a question, move on to the next. The Treasurer Test measures knowledge, speed, productivity and accuracy.

Technical Treasury Knowledge part
Complex calculations have to be made. We advise to use a scientific calculator and a pen and paper to take notes.

Personality Profile part
There is no right or wrong. This section consists of statements in which you must indicate whether or not this applies to you.

Here is a short summary of preparation advice that will help you in advance of making the Treasurer Test:

  • Take the test in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed
  • Make sure you have a scientific calculator, pen and paper at hand
  • You need to finish the Technical Treasury Knowledge part in one time. Same counts for the Personality Profile part. However, you can take a rest between these two different test parts.
  • Move on to the next question when you don’t know the answer. You have limited time (this only counts for the Technical Knowledge part).
  • The test is intensive, take this into account

Greetings,

Team Treasurer Test

 

Treasurer Test development: huge investment, great result!

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It all started a few years ago. The desire to better assess corporate treasurers led to a group of us wanting to build a test that did not exist yet. Together with various experts we invested time, money and expertise.

First, a project team was put together and Merel van Geel was appointed project leader. Other team members have a background in education, science, corporate treasury, assessment psychology, IT and treasury recruitment. Quite a diverse group! The goal of this project group was to investigate whether the concept could lead to a feasible business plan.

We quickly found that the cost of the software and its customization plays a vital role in this plan. The software should be able to test both personality as well as treasury knowledge, be able to work with various peer groups, include sound statistical research methods and generate reports. It should have a client friendly interface. In a few months, many systems were tested and demos have been viewed. After long consideration and negotiations, a software manufacturer was chosen that already developed tests and could be integrated into our existing software. This manufacturer has many universities and other research institutes as their client.

In parallel various personality models were considered. As the Big Five model is widely accepted, well known and, different from many others, accepted in academic circles, that is the model we chose. The Big Five assessment that is integrated in the Treasurer Test is offered by other parties separately and integrated in our solution. In other blogs we will elaborate on the model.

A team of experts from the Hogeschool Utrecht and the Vrije Universiteit took it upon them to develop a library of questions in various treasury sub categories and complexity level. The Test holds a lot more questions than the average candidate will answer.

Integration of various components was led by Merel and the results were screened by an advisory board that, together with a group of close friends were the first ones to do the Test for the first time. In parallel, we started to expand the treasuryXL website so that the test could be integrated and you can place and pay your order. Components such as a logo and a GDPR privacy statement were developed. Finally, the report of the Treasurer Test was designed, developed from the various above described components..

At this moment we are further testing the results. A selection of testee candidates has been made to fill the peer groups which are essential in the concept of the Treasurer Test. After the test has been made by these persons and feedback has been processed, the test will become available. We are very excited about this and will keep you up-to-date!

Greetings,

Team Treasurer Test

 

Getting ready to launch the Treasurer Test!

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Roughly 60% or more of the hiring managers we work with does not have experience in corporate treasury. Less than 20% of people working in corporate treasury received extensive professional treasury education. The rest did not. How can we measure whether a candidate has the knowledge to be able to do the job? Currently this is done, also by us, by looking at their experience: screening CV’s, checking references, etcetera. I think there is room for more thorough measuring.

After talking with many experts the idea of the Treasurer Test arose. We created a group of enthusiasts and started building. The core of the group consists of:

  • academic treasury experts of VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam, responsible for the Register Treasurer Program, and The University of Applied Science (Hogeschool) Utrecht, organizer of the Minor Treasury Management;
  • assessment psychologists with a degree in test development;
  • IT experts using software and methodologies also used by dozens of international universities who can build an on-line assessment environment;
  • treasuryXL, their and our network of corporate treasurers as well as professional bodies.

Within a month we will start with the first test of a new and I think exciting measurement tool. It combines measurement of treasury knowledge & skills with a Big 5 personality test. The results of the treasury part of the test are presented both with absolute scores, as well as with a peer group comparison. Peer groups are formed upon experience: up to two years, three to eight and over nine. The results of the personality test are compared with a general population as well as the treasury population who already did the test. This way we can make statements like “he didn’t answer a lot of questions correctly on the topic cash management but others with less than 2 years’ experience score even worse” or “she is an introvert in comparison to general population but in comparison to other treasurers she is quite extroverted”.

We are close to asking the first peer group to do the test and expect a larger scale introduction around October 2018. I am quite excited about this project and think it can all help us in making career / recruitment decisions, choose proper education and shape treasury teams. There is a lot more to tell about the project, I will keep you updated and am available for questions or input.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

Pieter de Kiewit
Owner of Treasurer Search

 

 

What is the Treasurer Test

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The Treasurer Test will take approximately 70 – 100 minutes to complete. It consists of two parts:

1. Technical Treasury Knowledge.

This part is build out of multiple-choice questions that measure knowledge in the following 4 functional areas:

– Cash management
– Risk management
– Corporate Finance & Funding
– Miscellaneous Treasury

Total number of questions:

Each area contains 30 questions with a time limit of 10 minutes.

Duration:

4 x 10 minutes.

2. Personality Profile

This part comprises a personality assessment based on the “Big Five Theory”.
There is no right or wrong. This section consists of statements in which you must indicate whether or not this applies to you.

Total number of questions:

80

Duration:

30 – 60 minutes

After finishing the Treasurer Test you will receive your results report. This report will show you the results as an absolute and as a bench marked score against your peer group.