Despite posting record profits in the third quarter, Ford Motor isn't forgetting the lessons learned during the financial crisis and economic downturn. And the most important of those lessons is the key role of liquidity, and the need to have liquidity in place before the company needs it, Ford CFO Lewis Booth told Treasury & Risk magazine's Alexander Hamilton Best Practices Summit in New York City.

In December 2006, Ford put in place a financing totaling $23.5 billion. Booth credits that cash with helping the auto company negotiate the financial crisis without any government assistance, unlike the other big U.S. auto companies, General Motors and Chrysler.

"That raise of liquidity back in 2006 is the big difference between where we find ourselves and where some of our competitors find themselves," Booth said.