Buried Treasury: Why it's time to rethink how cash, control, and complexity are managed
Treasury used to be a back-office function. Today, it’s the backbone of financial agility and it’s buckling under the pressure. Once a linear operation focused on reporting, it's now a mission-critical function tangled in complexity, disconnected systems, and rising demands. As organisations scale and tech stacks grow, treasury is expected to provide clarity and control in conditions that currently offer so little of either.
In our new report, Buried Treasury: Uncovering the Secret to Financial Stability, we unpack the current state of the treasury function. Grounded in fresh insights from business leaders across Europe, it exposes the hidden inefficiencies slowing teams down and outlines how forward-thinking businesses are elevating treasury into a powerful engine for control, visibility, and long-term growth.
Visibility is the first domino
The report reveals a troubling reality: many businesses are still operating with limited visibility into their cash flow and financial operations.
- Only 26% of companies rate their visibility across multiple entities as "very good"
- Only 22% say the same about visibility into overspending risk
- Nearly 43% of finance teams lack the information they need to make informed decisions or maintain control over cash flow
In an environment where capital efficiency defines strategic advantage, these blind spots constrain both operational effectiveness and the ability to plan proactively. Treasury teams without a clear, real-time view of liquidity, cash movement, and risk exposure are hindered in their ability to guide the business through change with precision and confidence.
Too many tools make for a concerning tangle
Contrary to expectations, digital transformation doesn’t make things easier. Treasury teams today are managing an average of four or more systems just to handle basic operations, and most of those systems don’t integrate well.
This fragmentation creates a dangerous cycle:
- Inconsistent data across platforms
- Manual workarounds to fill the gaps
- Slow, reactive decisions
- A fallback to spreadsheets and calculators (used by nearly 49% of treasury teams)
This leads to treasury teams spending more time on low-value, repetitive tasks, leaving less capacity for strategic planning, scenario modelling, and risk analysis.
What the smartest teams are doing instead
A modern, high-functioning treasury function is defined by precision, proactivity, and its ability to drive strategic value across the business.
Our report identifies five core priorities that finance should be focusing on right now:
- Complete visibility: 70% of finance leaders say a single, centralised view of all accounts and currencies is now the top priority. Without this, improvements elsewhere are unlikely to gain traction.
- Scenario testing: 65% of businesses are using scenario modelling to better predict risk and opportunity in fast-changing markets.
- Making cash work harder: Treasury is being used more strategically to identify surplus funds and deploy them effectively, rather than leaving them idle.
- Time-saving automation: Teams are leaning into automation and integrated systems to eliminate manual processes and reduce errors.
- Smarter control: From FX optimisation to approval workflows, companies are using treasury as a lever for governance and broader financial influence, expanding its impact across the business.
Together, these developments reflect a broader transformation in how finance teams approach treasury. Not as a reporting mechanism, but as a strategic driver of business value.
The painful cost of letting treasury lag
In many organisations, treasury hasn’t evolved in line with the rest of the finance function. That’s a problem.
Without change, treasury teams will keep struggling with a string of limitations: fragmented data, limited forecasting, inefficient processes, and reactive decision-making. More importantly, they risk becoming a bottleneck rather than a driver of business agility.
As Amit Kahana, Head of Credit, Treasury and Cash Management at Pleo, puts it:
“If businesses want to develop greater financial strategy and agility, they must evolve the treasury function. Leaders might deem their current setup effective, but—given the economic rollercoaster to come in 2025—this could be wishful thinking.”
Waiting isn't an option anymore
The economic headwinds aren’t letting up. And as interest rates, inflation, and market conditions continue to shift, businesses can’t afford to be caught flat-footed. Treasury needs to operate not as an afterthought, but as a command centre for financial decision-making.
With stronger visibility, integrated tooling, and a more strategic mandate, treasury has the power to:
- Enable faster, data-informed decisions
- Unlock trapped liquidity
- Mitigate operational and currency risk
- Free up teams for high-impact work
In short, treasury can go from a cost centre to a competitive advantage, but only if it evolves.
The report reveals where treasury is heading
Buried Treasury goes beyond the high-level view. It distills strategic findings and forward-thinking practices that are reshaping how treasury is run today:
- Data-backed insights from finance leaders across Europe
- A breakdown of the top 5 priorities for modern treasury
- Real-world challenges holding teams back and how to overcome them
- Practical steps for building a future-ready treasury function
Ignore treasury, and risk running your business on instinct. Invest in it, and gain the clarity, control, and speed needed to outpace uncertainty.
Ready to transform treasury from a burden to a business driver? Download Buried Treasury to discover the steps forward and the risks of standing still.
