Treasury Policy Template: What to Include and How to Maintain It
A treasury policy turns financial risk controls into documented operating rules. It should be specific enough to guide employees and reviewers while remaining practical for the size and complexity of the business. This template is educational and should be adapted with legal, accounting and compliance input.
Core sections
- Purpose and scope
- Roles and authority
- Bank account governance
- Cash positioning and forecasting
- Payment authorization
- Fraud prevention and security
- Investments, if applicable
- Counterparty and banking risk
- Reconciliation and reporting
- Exceptions and policy violations
- Review and approval cadence
Authority matrix
The authority matrix should state who may prepare, approve, release and review transactions. Separate duties where practical. Define thresholds by transaction type and consider whether emergency procedures require additional documentation.
Bank accounts and signers
Document who may open or close accounts, approve signers, change entitlements and request services. Maintain a current inventory of accounts, owners and authorized users. Periodic entitlement reviews can identify former employees or unnecessary access.
Payments and fraud
Describe approved payment channels, approval thresholds, beneficiary-change verification, callbacks where appropriate, alerts and reconciliation. The policy should state what employees must do when a request appears unusual or conflicts with established procedure.
Liquidity and forecasting
Set expectations for cash forecasts, minimum operating liquidity, funding decisions and escalation of projected shortfalls. The policy should distinguish routine cash management from exceptional financing decisions that require additional approval.
Investments and counterparties
If the organization invests excess cash, define eligible instruments, maturity limits, concentration limits, approved counterparties and required documentation. Investment policies should be reviewed with appropriate legal and finance professionals.
Review cadence
Policies should have an owner, approval date, version number and scheduled review date. Trigger a review when there is a major banking change, new payment technology, material organizational change or significant control incident.
Updated operational note
Last reviewed: September 16, 2026. This template is general educational material, not legal or accounting advice. Adapt it to the organization's structure and applicable requirements.