- Set up a task force to investigate the cost savings and improved efficiencies to be gained by this approach . This will involve , among other activities , examining the needs to the business holistically and building a view of all of the costly and disparate systems and points of integration that can be eliminated as well as looking at new more efficient and streamlined business processes and reporting . The task force can build a business case and offer an alternate view of how the energy company should operate with greater efficiency , better controls and reduced risks ,
- Other energy companies are setting up greater links between treasury and trading using regularly occurring meetings , for example , between the CFO , Head of Treasury , Head of Risk and Head of Trading . These are then able to identify points of weakness and points of improvement in the current set up and propose incremental improvements ,
- Bring in outside expertise in the form of advisory or consultancy to develop a roadmap to an integrated treasury and trading function and essentially develop the business case for the business .
- Increased productivity by enabling the company to do more in the same time via an integrated approach and using single verifiable source of data to drive all business decisions ,
- Enhanced controls by building in uniform and systematic risk policies into business processes and systems across the business ,
Increasing Scrutiny
Next Generation Integrated Treasury & Trading
A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper
NEXT STEPS TOWARDS INTEGRATING TREASURY AND TRADING
For those energy companies considering integrating trading and treasury , the next steps to take are :
- Set up a task force to investigate the cost savings and improved efficiencies to be gained by this approach . This will involve , among other activities , examining the needs to the business holistically and building a view of all of the costly and disparate systems and points of integration that can be eliminated as well as looking at new more efficient and streamlined business processes and reporting . The task force can build a business case and offer an alternate view of how the energy company should operate with greater efficiency , better controls and reduced risks ,
- Other energy companies are setting up greater links between treasury and trading using regularly occurring meetings , for example , between the CFO , Head of Treasury , Head of Risk and Head of Trading . These are then able to identify points of weakness and points of improvement in the current set up and propose incremental improvements ,
- Bring in outside expertise in the form of advisory or consultancy to develop a roadmap to an integrated treasury and trading function and essentially develop the business case for the business .
Given the current commodity business environment , these companies are often targeting a comprehensive set of benefits across the business by examining the impact of closer treasury and trading integration on the following areas ,
- Increased productivity by enabling the company to do more in the same time via an integrated approach and using single verifiable source of data to drive all business decisions ,
- Enhanced controls by building in uniform and systematic risk policies into business processes and systems across the business ,
Increasing Scrutiny
In recent months , some commodity traders have faced external speculation over their accounting practices , liquidity and profits as the prices for many commodities have collapsed . Being able to respond to such criticism and to the collapse of forward prices succinctly and swiftly as a result of having complete internal visibility through more closely integrated treasury and trading operations , may have helped such companies better answer critics more promptly and defend their share prices .
© Commodity Technology Advisory LLC , 2016 , All Rights Reserved .