One in Three Firms Automates Treasury Function

October 3, 2001(PLANSPONSOR.com) - More than a third of the world's largest companies use a treasury management system (TMS) to automate treasury functions, a study by Greenwich Associates finds.

Although a TMS can be described as any system that automates an aspect of treasury management, more specifically it is a software tool designed to:

  • automate the more mundane tasks between accounting, cash forecasting and trading,
  • track working capital, such as cash, loans, deposits, and maturities, and
  • monitor investment, debt, and risk management

Different types of TMS include basic bank systems with some compilation and reporting capabilities, enterprise resource planning systems designed to handle operations like inventory and project management, and treasury-specific workstation applications. There are also specialized systems, many designed by management consulting companies.

Automating Europe

In terms of geography,

  • some 43% of institutions in Europe use a TMS,
  • rising to 46% on the Continent alone, while
  • standing at 37% in the UK
  • in Asia Pacific, including Japan, usage stands at 21%,
  • the percentage rising to 23% when Japan is excluded, while
  • in the Americas, use is at 41%

TMS use is most common at institutions most active in foreign exchange trading, those that average $5 billion or more in volume. Here TMS use averages between 44% and 46%, falling to 31% among institutions doing under $1 billion in trading.

Methodology

For the study, Greenwich Associates interviewed 3,541 investment professionals at 2,898 companies and institutions around the world. Interviews took place from September through December of 2000.

– Camilla Klein              editors@plansponsor.com

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