I have an interview for a Treasury Analyst position at a pension plan firm in the Internal Finance department. Do you guys have any advice and tips for me. Thanks
Learn the basics of cash management and FX. What is the capital structure, and does this make sense? Does the company generate revenue in foreign currency? Dollar functional? Share repurchase program? Debt coming due in the near term? Where does the company have it’s money invested? Credit Rating? Know about options, hedging, Commercial Paper, MMKTs, Auction Rates, Agencies, Treasuries, libor, JPY, EUR, GBP, etc… Without know too much about the specific of the job description is hard to determine what you should know. Generally speaking the above are issues that I deal with as a Treasury Analyst. Some of the perks include being swooned by the major I-banks.
I found this job description for Treasury, it doesn’t look half bad: “XXX Treasury Department is responsible for liquidity management, investments, foreign exchange management, banking relationships and capital markets activities. The duties of this role will include both project-based and daily activities in the areas of liquidity management, cash forecasting and banking.” Can those in is Treasury expand upon their role? Specifically: - Is Treasury higher prestige/more interesting than other corporate finance roles like FP&A, Tax, AP/AR? - Does the work in Treasury tend to be more project-based or calendar-based? - Is the skill-set in Treasury somewhat comparable to working for an investment fund? (I’m thinking that in Treasury you’d analyze a company’s commercial paper, while working at a fund you’d analyze a company’s stock?) How much analysis do you do in Treasury? - Would investment funds look somewhat favorably upon people with Treasury experience? Is it a good stepping stone to working at a fund? If not, what do former Treasury analysts tend to do now? Thanks!
very little to do with investment management imo unless you’re working on managing the fixed income book. the Hedging or trading desk might offer more experience but you’re not doing fundamental analysis on companies. you’re helping to manage the companies cash flows and capital. day to day routine. Treasury is like back office but actions need to be taken as opposed to simply administering things. putting on hedges, issuing capital, securitization, funding. these things are not routine in the same sense as accounting for trades or what not. skillset? VBA, SQL…computer stuff mostly assumign you know the basics of risk management.
You should probably also know how to maximize schmoozing from bankers.
fxguy1234 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Some of the perks include being swooned by the > major I-banks. interning in treasury was the greatest summer ever. i ate at the nicest restaurants for free, and i didn’t really do much on a daily basis. in at 8 out by 430 every day.
welcome to my life… Meeting with JP Morgan this week at a four star restaurant then Goldman Sachs chief economist is coming for a visit to shoot the shit.
I met a girl that worked in treasury at HSBC, according to her the compensation and work life balance was great. Didn’t get much else out of her other then the focus is on risk management more then anything else.
I have to say I got into treasury because of you, fxguy1234. I haven’t been swooned yet 
bruizeman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have to say I got into treasury because of you, > fxguy1234. > > I haven’t been swooned yet oh yea? Where did you end up?
fxguy1234 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bruizeman Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I have to say I got into treasury because of > you, > > fxguy1234. > > > > I haven’t been swooned yet > > > oh yea? Where did you end up? Henry Paulson… ever heard of him? He regrets every moment of leaving GS.
fxguy1234 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bruizeman Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I have to say I got into treasury because of > you, > > fxguy1234. > > > > I haven’t been swooned yet > > > oh yea? Where did you end up? I got accepted into the treasury department as an analyst of a very large card processing corporation. I’ve been at my job for 1 week so far 
Thanks for the input, everyone. All good stuff.
Ive done Treasury, you’ll be doing the same thing day in and day out - standard operating procedure, and if you’re the type that wants even a bit of stimulation, you won’t get any!
They book FX forwards with zero strategy or speculation, straight-up hedge just to lock in cash flows. Nothing wrong with it - its a great job, but not for someone doing CFAs etc. You may do some swaps etc, but again extremely vanilla.
It’s the same with most jobs, but in some cases like traders, at least the context is interesting even though they also follow SOPs with little discretion. And they get paid slightly more, with better exit opportunities.
Know what you’re getting into.