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Five vital lessons for CFOs and treasurers from the Trump victory
While emotions continue to run high a week since Trump was declared the president-elect, a sober look at the turn of events provides vital lessons for CFOs and treasurers who are faced with challenging and often an unpredictable future. Here are five lessons to consider.
Daniel Yu 18 Nov 2016
Donald Trump scored a spectacular win against Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election last week. His victory shook the markets with the Dow futures dropping by more than 800 points hours after the polls closed and more than US$1.2 trillion wiped off the value of global bonds. Emerging market currencies and bonds took a big hit from Mexico to Indonesia and Malaysia.
Markets reacted the way they did because Trump’s election was unexpected. Few saw it coming and the consensus into the final day of campaigning was for Clinton to make it. As markets are allergic to uncertainty, they displayed that kind of reaction and intensity that mirrors that level of surprise.
While emotions continue to run high a week since Trump was declared the president-elect, a sober look at the turn of events provides vital lessons for CFOs and treasurers who are faced with challenging and often an unpredictable future. Here are five lessons to consider –
1.      Big data is a double-edged sword – Clinton was ahead of almost every single national poll going into election day. How some of the most authoritative pollsters got it so wrong will be debated ad nauseam. With technology becoming increasingly a tool helping the CFO and treasurer to manage the treasury activity, over-reliance on data and analytics could prove to be disastrous as Clinton found out to her chagrin.
2.      Never take anything for granted – When the dust has settled following this year’s bruising US presidential election, Wisconsin will long be remembered as one of the states that switched sides after seven presidential elections voting for the Democrats. Post-mortem analysis suggest that Clinton assumed all is well given the history. Just because it has been going swell, however, does not mean a CFO or treasurer should only take a cursory look at a particular treasury function. Taking things for granted could result in the state of affairs turning red.
3.      Get the message across – Next to Clinton at the presidential debates, Trump looked more like a chump. His vocabulary does not go beyond great and beautiful. Yet, it does not matter to his supporters who heard his message loud and clear. As the CFO or treasurer trying to get through to the CEO or to the board, complexity of the argument may make you look smart and sophisticated but it also could blur the distinction between what matters and what is gibber. Get to the point.
4.      Leading from the front – In many ways the campaign of Trump was as topsy turvy as they come. Yet what differentiated him from the rest of the field during the Republican primaries and head-to-head with Clinton was his ability to lead from the front and taking charge. The most successful CFOs and treasurers no longer take the back seat in driving a company forward. Indeed, being strategic and as an equal partner to the CEO is value-enhancing and is that winning formula.
5.      Keep everything above board – Clinton and her supporters blamed FBI director James Comey for her loss after he sent a letter 11 days before the election to the US Congress to tell them that he is reopening the agency’s investigation into her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Whatever his motivation was, the fact of the matter is that she breached government rules in doing so.  The CFO and treasurer play a vital role in keeping the company accounts in order and in ensuring it complies with standards of governance not just to the shareholders but also to other stakeholders including employees, customers and the community at large. When companies fail, it is not unusual that the CFO or treasurer failed to live up to what is expected of them. 
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