About the survey

In preparing this year’s survey, our team considered the following:

• What are the top challenges and mandates treasurers are facing?
• How are treasury organizations evolving regarding business continuity, focus, talent, size, and maturity level?
• How are technologies adopted and used by the treasury teams? To what extent are treasurers utilizing technologies that complement treasury management systems?
• What regulations and trends are top of mind for treasurers?

Almost unanimously, most of our respondents have selected liquidity risk management and being a steward for financial risk management as critical mandates. Working capital optimization and enhancing governance and control over global treasury operations are continued focal points by treasury groups, as indicated in the 2022 survey.

Leading environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts was added to the survey this year, and 64% of survey respondents indicated it as a critical or important mandate from their CFO, which is likely driven by the inclusion of ESG assessments in the methodology used by rating agencies.

Treasurers have indicated a greater willingness to outsource operational treasury activities in treasury technology, bank account administration, in-house banking, and treasury payments. Creating a scalable corporate treasury to support the organization’s growth has moved up two positions, compared to 2022 survey results, and is regarded as a critical focus by 49% of respondents, up from 39% in 2022.

Within the next 12 months, most surveyed organizations are planning to take actions to enhance liquidity management, improve cash forecasting activities, improve the capital structure, address market risk, and increase operational efficiency to better deliver on mandates and address common challenges that include visibility into global operations, limited digital/treasury systems capabilities, liquidity, and FX volatility.

Treasurers are becoming the driving force of the cash culture in an organization, combining their traditional role of managing liquidity risk and ensuring access to financial markets with a more strategy-driven role around capital allocation and leading the return to shareholder strategies. Some respondents expressed that treasurers will need to possess not only treasury domain expertise but also leadership, risk management, and technology skills to better navigate strategic treasury priorities of tomorrow.

From a Deloitte perspective, we draw from the survey that organizations are quickly taking actions to address liquidity management, financial risk, business continuity, operating model priorities, and getting ahead of regulatory drivers. These measures are critical for maintaining stability and ensuring long-term success in the current business environment. It is evident that proactive strategies and swift responses are essential for navigating these challenges effectively. Organizations must continue to prioritize these areas to remain resilient and competitive.

Key insights from the 2024 Global Corporate Treasury Survey

• Echoing previous survey trends, liquidity risk management continues to be a top priority for treasurers, accentuated by global high interest rates and bank vulnerabilities in some countries.
• Treasurers continue to indicate the importance of improving cash flow forecasting capabilities, and the maturity of cash positioning capabilities continues to require development.
• The higher interest rate environment has driven treasurers to assume their role in the reduction of idle cash and the investment of cash surpluses to generate a return on investment.
• Treasury-specific Generative AI use cases for cash flow forecasting, cash positioning, and market risk management are the most popular.
• Treasury technology continues to be centered on a few global vendors: SAP Treasury, Kyriba, FIS, and ION.
• Treasurers have indicated a willingness to outsource operational treasury activities in treasury technology, bank account administration, in-house banking, and treasury payments.

Survey demographics

A total of 213 interviews were conducted across Deloitte’s global network via questionnaire:

• Respondents span all industries with the highest percentage of participants from the Energy, Resources, and Industrials industry.
• 62% of companies participating have revenues less than US$10 billion, whereas 27% have revenues between US$10 billion and US$50 billion, and the remaining 11% have revenues in excess of US$50 billion.