The Complete Guide to Becoming A Treasurer and Controller

Chapter 1: What Does a Treasurer and Controller Actually Do?

Let's start by cutting through the title. "Treasurer and Controller" sounds like two jobs, and in a way, it is. In a mid-sized company, these duties are often combined into a single role. In larger organizations, they might be split between two people, but the combined title is common enough that we'll treat it as one career. The treasurer side is about managing the company's cash and financial risk. The controller side is about running the accounting function and producing accurate financial statements. If you take this job, you are the person who watches the money move.

Your core job is to make sure the company has enough cash to pay its bills today, knows what will happen to that cash tomorrow, and can produce reliable numbers about what happened last month. That sounds straightforward, but the daily work is anything but. You'll wake up and check the company's bank balances, often across multiple accounts with different banks. You'll look at what payments are due in the next few days — maybe payroll, maybe a supplier invoice, maybe a debt payment — and make sure there's enough money moving into the checking account to cover them. If there isn't, you're the one who talks to the bank about an overdraft facility or arranges a short-term transfer from an investment account.

This is called cash management, and it's a daily rhythm. You don't do it once a month or once a