When the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) surveyedcorporate finance professionals in 2011, 81 percent of respondentssaid the treasury function's role had become more strategic overthe past five years. That trend shows no sign of abating. In the“2014 AFP Strategic Role of Treasury” survey report, released todayby the AFP and Oliver Wyman, 84 percent said treasury's role hasexpanded again. And 83 percent expect their treasury team to becomeeven more strategic in the next half-decade.

The latest survey explored exactly what treasury is doing thesedays, and the answers to those questions—especially among largecompanies—indicate why more and more consider the word “strategic”to apply to the treasury function. The activities in which thelargest proportion of respondents said their treasury functionplays a lead role are fairly predictable: bank relationshipmanagement, borrowing, and investing (see Figure 1, below). Morethan half of treasury teams, and nearly two-thirds of those inlarge organizations, also have lead roles in financial riskmanagement and counterparty risk analysis.

Treasury is also heading up some efforts that did nottraditionally fall under the function's purview. Twenty-eightpercent of respondents said their treasury team has taken a leadrole in investor relations, 26 percent in mergers and acquisitions,28 percent in business continuity planning, and 12 percent inaccounting and SEC compliance.