Good practice

Commercial or professional procedures that are accepted as being appropriate or effective.

Good practice principles are often documented in formal codes of practice.

Examples include the FX Global Code, setting out good practice principles for foreign exchange market participants, the UK Corporate Governance Code (for larger UK companies) the Financial Markets Standard Board's Statements of Good Practice and the ACT International Treasury Peer Review Best practice guide.

Applicability of FMSB Statements of Good Practice (SoGP)

"SoGPs do not form part of FMSB Standards, and they are not subject to FMSB’s adherence framework.

Rather, they reflect FMSB’s view of what constitutes good or best practice in the areas covered by the SoGPs in question."

Relationship of SoGPs with law and regulation

"FMSB Standards and SoGPs do not impose legal or regulatory obligations on Member Firms, nor do they take the place of regulation.

In the event of any inconsistency, applicable law, rules, and regulation will prevail.

In developing Standards and SoGPs, certain regulators may have commented on their drafting, alongside Member Firms and other bodies, such that the Standards and SoGPs, once finalised and published, are intended to represent an authoritative statement of global good practices and processes.

However, they are not normally endorsed by regulators. Where they are endorsed by a regulator, that will be made clear on the face of the Standard or SoGP in question."

(Source - FMSB)

Redefining treasury best practice in real-time

"... the way treasury teams are structured and operate is evolving – and doing so faster than ever.

What was once considered ‘best practice’, often no longer meets the needs of today’s treasurer.

In fact, the challenge regularly runs much deeper than this.

It is not just a case of not meeting a normal progression of needs, but the rapid evolution facing them has left treasury teams redefining what best practice means in a working-from-home and a real-time treasury environment.

To update and redefine best practice, the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), with our support, has developed its inaugural International Treasury Peer Review.

The review, which incorporates responses from more than 200 corporates globally, has been designed to help treasurers benchmark their practices and operations against their peers – with a focus on the geographical and industry-specific factors involved in decision-making."

Ole Matthiessen, Deutsche Bank, Corporate Bank, Global Head of Cash Management - ACT International Treasury Peer Review Best practice guide - page 5.

Good practice at heart of ACT's work

"Developing and sharing treasury good practice is at the heart of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT)’s work.

Caroline Stockmann, former ACT Chief Executive, describes it as follows, "Best practice in treasury isn’t just about technical skill, it’s about understanding your role within the larger business. A good treasurer integrates treasury goals with overall corporate strategy to drive growth and mitigate risk"."

Good practice in treasury - ACT Learning resource.

Good practice - student treasury term of the month

"Good practice in treasury is everything leading treasurers and treasuries do that it isn’t already mandated by law, rules or regulation.

Treasury good practices range from formal publications you need to read - especially the ACT’s treasury best practice guide - to applied common sense.

The hallmark of treasury good practice is collaboration, and it is essential for your career progression...

Fi Wallace, Associate Director Treasury recruitment, Renoir, advises, “Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders is a fundamental part of your development as a treasurer as you progress, especially when partnering with C suite, tax and operations teams. Organisations need treasurers that are comfortable being strategic, but not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get into the detail too.”"

Good practice - ACT student treasury term of the month - November 2024.

See also

• Accounting practice
• Advisory
• Association of Corporate Treasurers
• Benchmark
• Benchmarking
• Best practice
• Better practice
• Boilerplate
• C suite
• Cash flow statement
• Cash management
• Code
• Code of practice
• Competence
• Compliance
• Contract
• Corporate finance transaction
• Directive
• Disapplication
• Enforcement
• Ethics
• Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB)
• Foreign Exchange Committee
• Framework
• FX Global Code
• Generally accepted accounting practice (GAAP)
• Global Code
• Governance
• Guidance
• Investment management
• Joint Money Laundering Steering Group
• Jurisdiction
• Law
• Legislation
• Model
• Non-pre-emptive issue
• Operations
• Oversight
• Payments Market Practice Group
• Peer
• Practice
• Practice note
• Practitioner
• Pre-Emption Group
• Principle
• Principles based
• Red tape
• Regime
• Regulation
• Report
• Reporting
• Reputational risk
• Request for proposal
• Rule of law
• Rules
• Rules based
• Spreadsheet Standards
• Standards
• Statement of commitment
• Statement of Good Practice (SoGP)
• Statement of practice
• Statement of Principles
• Statement of recommended practice
• Supervision
• Supervision Committee of the FRC
• Tax
• Truncation
• UK Corporate Governance Code
• UK Money Markets Code
• Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits

Other resources

• Financial Market Standard Board's Statements of Good Practice
• ACT International Treasury Peer Review Best practice guide
• Good practice in treasury - ACT Learning resource