Tag Archive for: treasurer

A deeper dive into the Treasurer Test Technical Knowledge part

Different from the multiple-choice questions in the Big5 Personality Profile assessment, a number of treasury technical questions require you to make calculations. Furthermore, there is a time pressure component: there are more questions than you will be able to answer within the limited time. You will have to balance between answering questions right and answering as many as possible. It is not possible to skip questions.

In previous blogs and in the Treasurer Test example report we mention the four corporate treasury sub-disciplines we work with. For each discipline you will have a limited time of 10 minutes to answer the questions.

In the below summary you can see what topics you can expect:

  1. Risk Management: future contracts, FX, interest, inflation, hedging, ALM, derivatives
  2. Corporate Finance: various bond types, valuation, equity, dividend calculations, rating agencies, bank loans
  3. Cash Management: zero balancing, liquidity management, bank account management, notional pooling, netting
  4. Treasury Miscellaneous: transfer pricing, withholding taxes, capitalization rules, investments, treasury organization, reporting & analysis, accounting & accounting principles, treasury technology and tender processes.

Together with industry and university experts we continuously work on updates of the questions catalogue. A challenge is to balance what is always relevant in corporate treasury, what is new and what will remain relevant.

It is possible to send your input for the further design of the questions catalogue. We are currently discussing topics like tax reforms, trade finance, treasury technology, alternative funding sources.

On behalf of Team Treasurer Test,

 

Wout van Wijlick
Marketing Coordinator, treasuryXL

 

 

For what audience is the Treasurer Test developed?

The development of the Treasurer Test stems from the idea that it can be very useful for in particular three audiences:

  1. Treasurers; you work already in treasury, but want to improve some of your treasury skills to move up
  2. Education; you are a student/career switcher and want to become a treasurer
  3. Recruitment; you are a recruiter but not familiar with the treasury discipline

Their goals might overlap, but there are some differences. In this blog, we will elaborate.

Treasurers

 

It might sound strange, taking the Treasurer Test while already being a treasurer. However, it can be useful in many situations. First, it provides you the opportunity to show your hiring manager that you are fully capable and have the right personality for the position you want to step into. Secondly, it helps you plan your career. The extensive result report will show your treasury knowledge gaps and personality, helping you understand what type of education and coaching you should take. Third and last, it is also useful for the treasury team. Since you want to be ready and prepared for the future of your organisation, you want to know the current status of the team in order to build a development plan with a focus both on skills as well as on personalities.

 

Education

 

Aspiring treasurers might have the aforementioned goals and some extra. They might not have done the job, but know a lot and want to prove this. Automatically, the Test will show where development might be started best and if the potential is enough to pick up the position. Taking the Test will also lead to insight into what the job is about. It is not intended but might lead to a candidate treasurer steering his career in another direction. Finally, we are talking with educators to deploy the test at the start and at the end of a program in order to objectively measure the progress of students.

 

Recruitment

 

In finding staff or helping them in development, HR, recruiters and educators will play an important role. It is not to be expected that these specialists benefit from taking the Test. However, they should know about the Big5 typology and understand how the Test measurers skills.
On the other hand, CFOs, CFO team members, auditors, bankers and other financial specialist and their organisations will benefit from them taking the Test. Many of them consider themselves (unjust) knowledgeable in corporate treasury. Insight into their actual knowledge level is a good starting point. If the non-treasurer knows a lot and can prove this with the Test results, treasury specialists will better accept input. If not, the non-treasurer will better appreciate the expertise of the specialist and put treasury higher on the priority list.

Interested whether the Treasurer Test can be of value to you? Feel free to contact us!