Treasurer job description: the corporate treasurer and the honorary treasurer, their duties, the controls a small organisation needs, and two templates

Two adverts, one title. The first wants someone to negotiate a revolving credit facility and hedge currency exposure. The second wants someone to count the raffle money, pay the hall hire and explain the balance at the annual general meeting. Both are asking for a treasurer, and a treasurer job description that does not say which is wasting everybody's time.

This article covers both jobs, using three primary sources: the US O*NET occupational database, the Prospects graduate careers service and the Charity Commission's guidance for trustees on GOV.UK. It sets out the corporate treasurer's duties and the five treasury functions, the honorary treasurer's duties in a charity or club, the governance point that all trustees share responsibility for the money, the controls a small organisation needs, the skills and qualifications for each, and two templates. The charity law described is the law in England and Wales; it is general information, not legal advice.

Whichever treasurer you are hiring, the role is judged on things that can be written down as objectives: a forecast that held, an audit with no findings, a set of accounts filed on time. See how New Dynamics Goals & OKRs keep those targets and their progress in one place.

Two jobs, one title

• The corporate treasurer. A senior finance role in a company: cash, funding, investment and financial risk. O*NET lists “Corporate Treasurer”, “Finance Treasurer”, “Global Treasurer” and “Treasurer” among the reported titles of treasurers and controllers, an occupation it describes as directing “financial activities, such as planning, procurement, and investments for all or part of an organization” and places in Job Zone four, usually a bachelor's degree.
• The honorary treasurer. A volunteer officer of a charity, club, society, PTA or community group, usually a trustee or committee member, responsible for the organisation's money and for explaining it to the board and the members. O*NET's list includes “School Treasurer”, which sits closer to this end.

The test: if the advert mentions a board of trustees, a committee, an annual general meeting or the word honorary, it is the second job. If it mentions liquidity, facilities, hedging or a treasury team, it is the first.

The corporate treasurer

What the job covers

Prospects describes corporate treasurers as people who “shape a company's financial strategy by managing cash flow, funding, investments and financial risk”, and groups the key treasury functions into five: capital markets and funding; cash and liquidity management; corporate financial management; risk management; and treasury operations and compliance.

Six duties

Grouped from the O*NET tasks and the Prospects duty list:

1. Cash and liquidity. Forecast cash requirements; manage cash flow and liquidity so the organisation can meet its obligations; monitor reserve levels, which O*NET ties directly to meeting legal and regulatory requirements.
2. Funding. Evaluate the need to raise funds and to invest surpluses, and make recommendations; arrange and manage funding; negotiate facilities with banks and other providers; in larger organisations, raise money through debt or equity markets.
3. Risk. Identify, assess and manage financial risks, including interest rate, currency and liquidity risk; monitor markets and economic developments that could affect the organisation.
4. Banks and counterparties. Develop and maintain relationships with banking, insurance and external accounting personnel, in O*NET's words, and with investors.
5. Controls and compliance. Develop internal control policies and procedures for budget administration, cash and credit management; authorise disbursements in accordance with company policy; delegate authority for the receipt, banking, protection and custody of funds; keep current with accounting standards and regulation.
6. Advice and reporting. Advise management on short and long-term financial objectives and actions; evaluate the financial impact of projects and investments; prepare or direct financial statements, forecasts and budgets.

Prospects adds that the role may extend to property, taxation, insurance and pensions, and that in some organisations it involves trading in foreign exchange, commodity and money markets.

Skills and qualifications

Employers look for analytical and forecasting ability, judgement under uncertainty, negotiation with banks and investors, comfort with treasury systems and controls, and the ability to explain a financial position to people who are not accountants. Most corporate treasurers hold a professional accountancy or treasury qualification and arrive through finance, accountancy or banking; Prospects describes entry at assistant or junior treasury level and progression through treasury analyst and treasury manager. Our accountant job description covers the neighbouring profession and the UK and US qualification routes.

The honorary treasurer

What the job covers

In a charity or club the treasurer is the officer who keeps the money safe, keeps the records, makes and receives payments, prepares the accounts and explains the figures to the board, the committee and the members. In a small organisation they do the bookkeeping themselves; in a larger one they oversee a finance staff member or a bookkeeper.

The governance point most adverts miss

The Charity Commission's guidance on what being a trustee involves says that some trustees have special roles such as chair and treasurer and are known as officers, and then makes two points that belong in every treasurer advert: officers “don't automatically have any extra powers or legal duties than the other trustees, but may carry out specific roles or have specific responsibilities delegated to them”; and “all trustees remain jointly responsible for the charity. For example, all trustees share responsibility for finances (not just the treasurer).”

That matters in both directions. A board cannot delegate its financial responsibility to one volunteer and stop asking questions; and a treasurer should not be left to carry a risk the whole board shares. The Commission's six main trustee duties include managing the charity's resources responsibly, which it calls the duty of prudence: not taking inappropriate risks with assets or reputation, not over-committing the charity, taking special care when investing or borrowing, complying with restrictions on spending, and putting “appropriate procedures and safeguards in place”, because otherwise the charity is vulnerable to fraud or theft. The guidance also notes that it is rare, but not impossible, for trustees to be held personally liable.

Seven duties in a charity or club

1. Records. Keep accurate records of income and expenditure; file the receipts, invoices and bank statements so that somebody else could follow them.
2. Payments and receipts. Make payments that the committee has approved; bank income promptly; keep cash handling to a minimum and never mix it with personal money.
3. Bank and reconciliation. Maintain the bank mandate; reconcile the accounts monthly or at least each quarter; check that the reconciliation is seen by someone other than the treasurer.
4. Budget and reporting. Prepare a budget with the committee; report the position at every meeting in a page anyone can read: income, expenditure, balance, commitments and anything unusual.
5. Annual accounts and filing. Prepare or arrange the annual accounts; arrange the independent examination or audit the organisation's size and rules require; file with the regulator and, where relevant, at Companies House by the deadline.
6. Controls and policies. Keep a written expenses policy, an authorisation limit and a two-person rule for payments; make sure the committee sees and approves them.
7. Explaining. Answer members' questions plainly at the annual general meeting, and tell the board early when money is running short. The treasurer's real product is a board that understands its own finances.

The controls a small organisation needs

Most charity fraud in small organisations is possible because one person had the bank, the records and nobody looking. Four controls remove most of the risk without hurting anyone's feelings:

1. Two people on every payment, with a low authorisation limit above which the committee approves.
2. A reconciliation somebody else sees, monthly or quarterly, signed off at the meeting.
3. A written expenses and income policy, including how cash from events is counted, by two people, and banked.
4. An annual independent examination, and a handover pack: bank details, logins, records, unpaid bills and the calendar of deadlines, so the role can change hands in a week.

Skills and who to look for

Numeracy and care matter more than qualifications. Look for someone methodical who will say no, will chase a missing receipt and will explain a balance sheet in plain words; an accountant is a bonus, not a requirement. Say in the advert how many hours a month the role takes, the term of office, when the meetings are, what software or spreadsheet is used, and who the treasurer can ask for help.

Two templates

Corporate treasurer

Job title: Corporate Treasurer (or Head of Treasury, Treasury Manager)

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director

Scope: State the turnover and cash position, the facilities in place, the currencies and markets the organisation is exposed to, the size of the treasury team and the systems in use.

Purpose: Make sure the organisation has the cash and funding to meet its obligations and plans, at an acceptable cost and risk, with controls and reporting the board can rely on.

Responsibilities:

• Forecast cash requirements; manage cash flow, liquidity and reserve levels.
• Evaluate funding needs and surplus investment; arrange and negotiate facilities; manage lender and investor relationships.
• Identify and manage interest rate, currency and liquidity risk within the agreed policy.
• Maintain banking relationships and mandates; oversee treasury operations, systems and controls.
• Authorise disbursements to policy; develop internal control policies for cash and credit.
• Advise the executive team on financial objectives and the financial impact of projects and investments.
• Prepare treasury reporting, forecasts and the treasury sections of statutory reporting.

Skills and experience: treasury or finance experience at comparable scale; a professional accountancy or treasury qualification; risk and markets knowledge; negotiation; clear communication with the board.

Honorary treasurer

Role title: Honorary Treasurer (trustee or committee officer, voluntary)

Accountable to: The board of trustees or the committee, and through them to the members and the regulator

Time commitment: State the hours a month, the meeting dates, the term of office and whether expenses are reimbursed.

Purpose: Keep the organisation's money safe and its records accurate, and make sure every trustee understands the financial position well enough to make decisions.

Responsibilities:

• Keep accurate records of income and expenditure and the supporting documents.
• Make approved payments and bank income promptly; operate the bank mandate.
• Reconcile the accounts regularly and have the reconciliation reviewed.
• Prepare the budget with the board and report the position at each meeting in plain language.
• Prepare or arrange the annual accounts, the independent examination or audit, and the filings.
• Maintain financial policies and controls, including a two-person rule for payments.
• Advise the board on financial implications, and flag problems early.

The board's part: all trustees remain jointly responsible for the charity's finances; the board reviews the accounts, approves the budget, and does not leave the treasurer alone with the money.

Person specification: methodical and accurate; comfortable with a spreadsheet or the accounting package in use; able to explain figures plainly; willing to ask awkward questions. An accountancy background is welcome but not required.

Frequently asked questions

What does a treasurer do?

It depends which treasurer. A corporate treasurer manages an organisation's cash, funding, investment and financial risk, and advises the executive team; the US occupational database lists monitoring cash flow and reserve levels, evaluating the need to raise funds or invest surpluses, managing banking relationships, authorising disbursements and developing internal controls among the tasks. An honorary treasurer in a charity or club keeps the records, makes and banks payments, prepares the budget and accounts, arranges the examination and explains the position to the board and members.

What are the duties of a treasurer in a charity?

Keeping accurate records, making approved payments, banking income, reconciling the accounts, preparing the budget and annual accounts, arranging the independent examination or audit, filing on time, maintaining financial controls and reporting the position in plain language at every meeting. The Charity Commission is clear that all trustees share responsibility for finances, not just the treasurer.

Is the treasurer personally liable?

The Charity Commission says it is “extremely rare, but not impossible” for charity trustees to be held personally liable: to their charity if they cause a financial loss by acting improperly, or to a third party with a claim the charity cannot meet. Complying with the trustee duties and considering incorporation reduce the risk. This is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice.

What qualifications does a treasurer need?

A corporate treasurer usually holds a professional accountancy or treasury qualification and has finance, accountancy or banking experience; the US occupational database places the occupation in Job Zone four, usually a bachelor's degree. An honorary treasurer needs no qualification: numeracy, care, honesty and the willingness to explain and to ask questions matter more, though an accountant on the board is useful.

What is the difference between a treasurer and an accountant?

An accountant keeps or examines records, prepares accounts and advises on tax and finance. A corporate treasurer looks outward and forward at cash, funding and risk. In a small charity the treasurer often does the bookkeeping too, which is why the controls matter.

Your next step: write the advert for the job you have

1. Decide which treasurer you need and say so in the first line.
2. For the corporate role, state the scope: cash, facilities, currencies, team and systems.
3. For the honorary role, state the hours, the term, the software and who helps.
4. Put the controls in writing before the new treasurer starts, and prepare the handover pack.

For a way to turn a treasurer's responsibilities into objectives that can be reviewed, read and download our SMART goals guide. The guide is free to read, and the PDF uses our short download form.

Want objectives, review cycles and handovers recorded in one place, on your own form? Book a New Dynamics demo and bring your current role description. You can also email contact@new-dynamics.com.