What “treasury management” means in practice
Treasury management is the day-to-day and strategic work of keeping the business liquid, paying people safely, and knowing your cash position with confidence. In the U.S., it usually spans:
- Cash positioning (what you have, where it sits, and what’s available today)
- Payments (ACH, wires, checks, card, RTP/FedNow where applicable)
- Collections (lockbox, remote deposit, merchant services, ACH debits)
- Risk controls (entitlements, dual approval, Positive Pay, device/security controls)
- Liquidity & investments (sweeps, money market, short-term instruments, counterparty limits)
A starting blueprint for smaller teams
- Document bank accounts and access. List accounts, signers, users, roles, and approval limits.
- Set up daily cash positioning. Same time each morning, same file/report sources, same owner.
- Build a 13-week cash forecast. Start “rough but consistent,” then improve accuracy over time.
- Standardize payment controls. Dual approval, call-backs for changes, and alerting for high-value items.
- Create a monthly treasury pack. Liquidity, cash conversion, exceptions, bank fees, and upcoming risks.
Controls that help you sleep
| Risk | Control | Practical tip |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorized wires | Dual approval + limits | Set limits by user role and require 2 approvals above thresholds. |
| Vendor bank detail fraud | Out-of-band verification | Verify changes using a known phone number—not the email thread. |
| Check fraud | Positive Pay | Define an exception workflow with a daily cutoff and a backup approver. |
How to pick “quick wins” for the next 30 days
- Turn on alerting for wires, ACH batches, and user/entitlement changes.
- Review who can create vs approve payments (segregation of duties).
- Centralize cash reporting: one spreadsheet or dashboard, same definitions.
Note: This site is bank-agnostic and educational. For institution-specific portal access, use the official provider’s website.