Lane Silverman explains how treasury differs from accounting and why treasury professionals need broad experience across foreign exchange and capital markets. He covers what makes a good fit between person and company for long-term career growth.
Foreign what people think is the logical way into treasury is usually the accounting route. I totally do not think so. My experience with accountants has been mixed, so to speak. There's some very, very good treasurers and consultants that come from the accounting side and see that. But accounting is so rule based and some of these rules make absolutely zero sense from an economic and treasury point of view. And once accountants get so ingrained in that that it' hard for them to see beyond that. And I think in treasury you look much more at the economic side. You look much more at risk in foreign exchange look much more at risk in the capital markets and liquidity flows. It is not that rule based. Well, maybe now more than in the past, but it's not that rule based as in accounting. And I think once you get too ingrained in those rules, you lose the perspective. What you need to see is a treasure. I did what I liked, which was first banking and then I jumped over to corporate because I saw there was an opportunity there to apply what I've done. But after that I had a broad enough experience and I think that's irrelevant, a broad enough experience in the various aspects of treasury, be it fx, be it capital markets, be it funding, be it other types of risk management, that when I applied for a new position it was always a position level up. But I never thought I really could do it because I thought I don't have enough experience. This is missing from my resume. But I did it anyway because I thought you usually have enough good people around you. Certain things can be learned on the job. And I don't want to say I faked it, but that's how it felt when I went into these positions and I didn't know everything but I had confidence enough in myself that I could learn it or that I could dip into the rudimentary elements from that subject that I. That maybe I wasn't that experienced and that I could, that I could work it out. When you're looking for another position, not when you're starting out. When you're starting out, grab any position that where the treasury does, the Treasury Department does a lot of interesting things that you can learn but later on when you're in the mid level or further on your career. I think there's two things that maybe not everybody necessarily looks at is look what we said earlier, look at stage of the company, what they're doing, see if that fits what you want to do. Either be it in funding or FX risk, but just as important and that's harder to generate make sure, if you can, that the senior guys, the non financial guys in the company are savvy financially. Because I think that's something that in a lot of companies I see that's lacking where the CEOs and the senior guys are either marketing guys or engineers and they know zip about finance. And therefore whatever you do in treasury, whatever strategy come up with, yes, it may be appreciated as an end result, but you have nobody thinking with you, you have nothing to bounce off on.
