I have an interview coming up with the Treasurer of an Energy Company. I would be doing some modeling for the Treasury department, and it’s interest work and a field I’d love to get experience with in order to grow in Finance. I have FP&A experience but haven’t had much capital markets experience. The interview is short - only 30 minutes. He may not ask me anything technical but I want to be ready.
That said, what would you prep and understand from a high level? Have you seen any interview questions specifically for those that would work on a Treasury team, or Treasury modeling?
Congrats. My two cents first: I loved my time in treasury (half of my career) and I’d probably consider going back. It’s a great place and your FP&A background (same as me) is solid there.
Treasury is pretty simple at the end of the day from an interview perspective. They’re going to want to make sure you have some ability to deal rather than just being an accountant. You’ll have slimey bankers trying to rip bps off your ass all day long, so you need some assertiveness and you should present as a guy with some business sense.
How much capital markets involvement does the company have? Are they a bond issuer? If so, read up on rating agencies, these guys will become your friends and the biggest pain your butt at the same time. A Treasurer’s job in a public debt issuing company is 90% keeping them happy… if you have the rating you have access to funds.
Understand money markets. If you’re handling daily cash management, you need to know how CP and other money market instruments are priced and how the market works. Maybe you don’t need that for the interview but obviously that’s a foot up. And it’s easy points.
Treasury modelling can either be simple or complex. Lots of it is just simple cash flow forecasting so you have your borrowing/investments lined up with cash flow dates. Easy. On the more complex side, you’ll be analysing corporate structure impacts on credit ratios and stuff like that. Lots of fun. Depending on how much hedging your firm does and if treasury does it (instead of trading or risk mgmt), you might have some derivative exposure.
I spent some time in treasury looking at FX and interest rates. Post a job description. Treasury can be very simple (reconciling bank statements for cash management) or very robust (capital construction, debt issues, div vs. share repurchase).