Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) are facing fresh challenges as the businesses they are associated with grapple with ongoing impacts of COVID on cashflow, (re)forecasting, supply chain blockages and restrictions, skills shortages, and the appetite of banking partners to take on changing levels of risk.

Treasury may or may not be a specific area of focus for NEDs but an understanding of its impact on all parts of a business is critical. A request to management for a reporting framework for treasury activity is a pragmatic way to provide satisfaction to individual NEDs and to the Board as a whole that treasury is being managed appropriately and in compliance with regulations. NEDs should take care that this is not construed as trying to ‘take over’ a project or strategy.