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Best Practices in Managing Excess Cash

Companies can improve yield on excess cash, but doing so without sacrificing liquidity or taking on too much risk requires sophisticated processes and tools.

By Treasury & Risk Staff | Updated on August 21, 2014
As we reported last month, a recent PwC survey found that even as companies stockpile cash, few treasurers are shifting portions of their portfolio into riskier investments to increase the yield they’re earning.

Three-quarters of the survey’s respondents said their company’s cash as a percentage of total assets either increased or remained the same over the past year, whereas fewer than one-quarter (22 percent) said that ratio has decreased. As they decide where to park this cash, survey respondents’ primary goals are preserving principal and maintaining liquidity. Maximizing returns placed a far-distant third.

One reason PwC conducted the survey in the first place is that many clients were expressing interest in shifting investment strategies in order to increase returns on their excess cash, but the survey found that few are actually making this move. Another key finding was that most companies lack the processes and systems they would need to effectively manage the risks and performance of their portfolio if they did begin to pursue higher yield on some portion of their cash. Treasury & Risk sat down with PwC principal Peter Frank to identify the gaps and discuss what companies can do about them.

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