Innovation is never easy, in any function, industry, or context. The law of corporate inertia holds sway throughout most organizations: Doing things the way they've always been done is not only easy, but safe. That holds particularly true in treasury and finance, where major projects and day-to-day activities tend to be very carefully monitored and regulated.

The myriad obstacles to innovation in treasury, finance, and risk management operations are the very reason that Treasury & Risk developed our Alexander Hamilton Awards program. We recognize corporate teams that have stepped well outside the box to improve the way they manage their areas of responsibility. Each project we recognize is remarkable, because true innovation in this realm is so difficult.

Even more rare is the company that bakes innovation into the culture of its treasury and finance functions. That is what our Alexander Hamilton Overall Excellence Award recognizes. We don't present this award every year, but in 2021, Microsoft dominated the Alexander Hamilton Awards program, winning an award in almost every category, so our judges selected Microsoft to receive the 2021 Alexander Hamilton Overall Excellence Award.