This year's PwC European Treasury Survey focused on what Treasurers meant by “value-added” treasury and investigated how this value is being measured and communicated. The survey results came from 166 companies throughout Europe. The Treasurers' view of which areas they added the most value to their organisations were as follows (top 5):-
Bank relationships = 100%
Long-term funding = 85%
Treasury risk management = 85%
Cash management = 85%
Capital structure = 82%

Whereas shareholders of the same companies had a different view of Treasurers most value-adding activities, namely (top 5):-
Treasury risk management = 100%
Cash management = 60%
Working capital management = 60%
Capital structure = 60%
Long-term funding = 52%

The shareholders only rated bank relationships as a 20% importance! Therefore are treasurers placing too much importance on bank relationships? Or are Treasurers not communicating very well to shareholders the importance of bank lending support to the company's operations? However, to communicate the “value-add” one has to first measure it! It seems that many European treasurers are still reticent about applying KPIs and benchmarks to their activities. Treasuers saw the greatest obstacles to treasury to add value were:-

Limited people resources = 41%
Compliance or regulatory requirements = 27%
Decentralised nature of business = 26%
Technology/IT infrastructure = 24%
Lack of understanding of what treasury is = 24%