Technology solutions are tantamount to efficiency – a concept corporate treasurers worldwide are increasingly embracing, a new report reveals.

 

One of the biggest change since 2014 is the move away from spreadsheets as treasurers continue their march towards using dedicated technology platforms to manage cash, solutions providers Kyriba notes in a report it did with London-based Association of Corporate Treasurers.

 

The increasing acceptance of technology among finance professionals, however, doesn’t necessarily translate to openness to some of the new ‘cash’ concepts such as cryptocurrency or so-called digital currency like bitcoin.

 

While cryptocurrency has certainly attracted plenty of media attention over the past couple of years, this doesn’t seem to have transferred into usage among corporates. In fact only 2% of companies in the survey are currently accepting bitcoin.

 

A further 4% don’t currently accept bitcoin, but are looking in to whether they should do so. “While this figure is certainly higher than previously, it still highlights that bitcoin hasn’t come close to being viewed as a mainstream alternative to fiat currencies. In fact, a tenth of treasurers aren’t even aware of the cryptocurrency,” says the report.

  

Thirty-one percent of treasurers surveyed use spreadsheet as primary management tool in this year’s survey, down from 42% of firms a year earlier.

 

That means more than a quarter of last year’s respondents have started using a dedicated technology solution, or are brought into their organisation’s ERP environment.

 

“The move towards technology is even more pronounced when SMEs are discounted – among companies with more than £100 million (US$156.2 million) annual revenues – the number of companies using either a dedicated TMS or an ERP treasury module climbs to 78%, with a third of the holdouts currently in the process of buying a solution,” the report notes.

 

A total of 303 responses were received for the online survey conducted in February and March 2015, of whom, 41% were from UK, 6% from India and the rest other markets. Asia-Pacific respondents were from Australia and New Zealand.

 

Irrespective of the increased ability to analyse data and provide strategic counsel that the use of a treasury solution provides, the amount of time that it saves treasury teams cannot be underestimated.

 

Those who use spreadsheets report are spending almost three entire months a year just on manual tasks (such as bank information gathering and GL entries). This is almost 50% more time than those who use a TMS.

 

Regarding the use mobile gadgets, the report notes that just 18% use their smartphone or tablet as their primary work platform.

 

Supply chain finance is an area that is starting to see some traction within treasury departments, with a third of companies having some form of programme in place, and a further 21% looking into implementing a programme, it adds.

 

These numbers rise considerably as the company size grows: while only 8% of companies under £100 million revenues currently have a programme in place, the number rises steadily to 46% for companies with more than £10 billion revenues.