The Handbook of Global Corporate Treasury

Chapter Five

Account Management and Structure

THE ACCOUNT STRUCTURE is a critical part of Treasury Design and depends on many factors. These factors include business operating model, type of transactions, cash flows, currencies, Treasury structure and staffing, culture, control elements, and budgets. Some of the decisions to be made in structuring accounts are given diagrammatically in Figure 5.1.

FIGURE 5.1 Decisions for Account Structure

Account structures are linked with the people operating them and systems. Systems make the entire design and setup of accounts quite sticky—once implemented and tested, these systems would be geared up to support a certain kind of structure. More often than not, even a small change in the way accounts are managed results in significant costs and effort involved to change the entire process, since the account structure is one of the bases for the company’s financial operations.

PUTTING AN ACCOUNT STRUCTURE IN PLACE

We now look at some of the considerations for account structures as well as the need and ways to use different kinds of accounts across currencies, resident statuses, and locations. The steps involved in designing, setting up, and maintaining an account structure are given in Figure 5.2.

FIGURE 5.2 Account Structure Design and Implementation

In the first stage, consideration is given to various aspects, and the needs are discussed ...