Survey: Significant Gap Exists Between Importance and Effectiveness of Communication in Treasury

Results from the 2025 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey reveal that treasury leaders, managers and staff all have room to improve their communication skills.

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Though 96% of treasury professionals believe that communication is a critical skill for treasury leadership, only 81% believe that treasury leaders are effective at communication, according to the results of the 2025 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey, underwritten by Wells Fargo.

Treasury managers and staff are falling short as well, with only 79% of respondents stating they are effective communicators, though 96% say communication is an important skill at the manager and staff level. These findings signal a significant gap between those who consider communication important for treasury professionals regardless of seniority and those who believe treasury professionals are effective in communicating.

Over half of treasury professionals report increased interactions with accounts payable and the CFO/C-suite in the past two years. Effective communication is important for collaborating with these two departments, as treasury typically works with them on mitigating payments fraud, liquidity forecasting and supporting projects around automation/transformation. Sustainability/ESG experienced the greatest reduction in interaction with treasury over the past two years, with 10% of treasury professionals reporting fewer interactions.

On average, organizations employ approximately five full-time employees (FTEs) in the front office and more than six FTEs in the back office.

Additional key findings include:

• Nearly three-quarters of treasury practitioners cite cash management and forecasting as the top priorities of their department. This holds true regardless of level of seniority.
• Over 60% of treasury professionals cite cash or liquidity forecasting as the most challenging task they face, followed by automating manual processes (57%) and improving payment processes (51%).
• Treasury departments at the highest level of the treasury maturity spectrum (characterized as "strategic/optimized") employ automation for over half of the process of building liquidity forecasts.
• Over 60% of senior management from strategic/optimized organizations and 62% of senior management from organizations at the mid-level of the maturity spectrum express a willingness to adopt new technologies.
• Sixty-four percent of strategic/optimized treasury departments must comply with enterprise-wide standards and enforce them on treasury policies and procedures.

"The Treasury Benchmarking Survey provides financial professionals with a fuller understanding of treasury operations and helps them compare the metrics of their organizations' treasury departments against those of their peers," said Jim Kaitz, President and CEO of AFP. "The results of this year's survey are a reflection of the significant support treasury provides to other departments and the importance of enhancing communication skills in treasury."

"In today's dynamic and evolving environment, the treasury professional is tasked with staying relevant, efficient and effective," said Wells Fargo's Co-Head of Global Payments and Liquidity, Amy Downey. "Wells Fargo is proud to sponsor this study, and use these insights to help our clients transform and grow their businesses, providing products and solutions that are scalable to evolving business needs."

The 2025 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey was conducted in the fall of 2024 and received responses from 523 treasury practitioners from organizations of varying sizes from the U.S.

Full survey results are available on the 2025 AFP Treasury Benchmarking Survey page. Please direct all press inquiries to Joe Hodanich, Director, Digital Strategy, at jhodanich@afponline.org.

About AFP^®
Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., and located regionally in Singapore, the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is the professional society committed to advancing the success of treasury and finance members and their organizations. Established and administered by AFP, the Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional credentials set standards of excellence in treasury and finance. Each year, AFP hosts the largest networking conference worldwide for about 7,000 corporate financial professionals.

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SOURCE Association for Financial Professionals