In many ways, it's the final hurdle in the process of establishing a foreign currency hedge program: After treasury has decided to take action to mitigate risk caused by foreign exchange (FX) fluctuations, after exposures have been identified and quantified, after a strategy recommendation has been formulated, and after relevant partners and technology have been queued up, the last step is gaining approval for the program from the board of directors or a committee designated by the board.

By the time you are ready to present your FX hedging strategy recommendation to the board or board-appointed committee, the wheels will have been in motion for some time. The treasury team will have scrutinized an array of strategies and will have selected the best one for their circumstances. But that doesn't mean the board (or committee) will automatically approve the proposal.

If your company has recently experienced significant impacts to its earnings caused by FX volatility, there's a good chance you will leave the board meeting with the authority to move forward. Nevertheless, you need to come prepared. Here's what that means.