My Life in Treasury: Karolina Tarnawska, Grupa Žywiec

Karolina Tarnawska, Treasury & Credit Risk Director, Grupa Žywiec

In the first of this series, we featured Sarah-Jane Chilver-Stainer, Senior Vice President and Group Treasurer of GSK who shared some insights on her treasury career. This month, we are delighted to welcome another of our 2012 TMI corporate award winners, Karolina Tarnawska of Grupa Žywiec, part of the Heineken Group, who won the award for payments and collections, recognising the company’s innovative cash collections project. In this interview, Karolina discusses how her career in treasury has progressed, with quite a different background and experiences to those outlined by Sarah-Jane.

How did you first get into treasury, and what attracted you to the profession?

Initially, I started in banking, and worked as a relationship manager for ING. While I was there, I had the opportunity to move to McDonalds Polska, but initially decided to remain in corporate banking, which I enjoyed. Eventually, however, the position of treasurer became vacant at McDonalds Polska, so I decided to make the move into corporate treasury.

I soon found that in corporate treasury, my actions could make an immediate difference

Although the move to the corporate sector was an exciting one, I had not necessarily planned at that time that I would pursue a treasury career. Working at a bank gave an excellent grounding in finance, and visibility over a wide range of issues; however, there was not always the opportunity to contribute directly to clients’ success. I soon found that in corporate treasury, my actions could make an immediate difference, with enormous potential to contribute positively to the financial success of the business, which I found very motivating. In addition, while at the bank, I gained a broad knowledge of a range of client issues, corporate treasury gave the opportunity to explore the business in far more detail.

How did your career progress to the role you hold now at Grupa Žywiec?

In a bank, there are typically a number of career opportunities available, but it can be more difficult to pursue a treasury career within one corporation, such as McDonalds Polska in my case. The treasury function was already very efficient, so there were not obvious areas to add value, and as a largely domestic treasury centre (compared with group treasury based in the United States) there were few international treasury issues to deal with. Like many local treasury centres of large multinationals, treasury is often more closely linked with the accounting function than international treasury, so I was keen to contribute to a larger organisation where there was more opportunity to get involved with treasury-related issues, where I felt I could offer more value.

Grupa Žywiec proved a perfect opportunity, as a large company with more than 20 operating units. Furthermore, treasury was at an earlier stage of its development so there were more areas in which to deliver value across a wide spectrum of responsibility, including cash and liquidity management, payments, financing and risk.[[[PAGE]]]

How do you think demands on treasurers have changed during your career so far, and what additional skills are required to meet these demands?

One aspect of the role at Grupa Žywiec that I had not expected to develop when I first joined was working capital management. Over time, our treasury has embarked on a journey from pure treasury to a more strategic role in working capital and operating cash flow management, an experience that I know is shared by other treasuries. For example, we started a ‘hunt for cash’ project that proved very successful even before the global financial crisis, the value of which has since been highlighted even further.

The expansion of treasury into working capital changed the way that our department interacted with the rest of the business quite considerably. Before this, treasury was really an island within the company. We knew few people, even in a company of more than 5,000 people, and few people within the organisation understood what treasury did. At that stage, I barely knew how the sales teams operated, for example, and had no reason to find out.

Gradually, however, by engaging more with the business, I started to realise how we could improve operating cash flow. Delivering on this was complex, bringing together teams that had no experience of working together, and who did not originally understand the objective or the potential benefits. Not only was this an area where I could bring tangible benefits, but my management and influencing skills were also more widely recognised, which resulted in me becoming part of the senior management team. This shift from being part of an isolated business function to a member of the senior management team, engaged in all aspects of business, added a huge amount to my job satisfaction and ability to contribute to the company’s success.

Treasurers’ success in making this change will largely depend on their personal attitude, and in particular, becoming more extrovert in working with different parts of the business, communicating openly and influencing behaviours and decisions.

What has been your greatest career achievement so far, and why?

I am very fortunate that I enjoy what I do, and Grupa Žywiec continues be to a great organisation to work for. I like the combination of a high degree of personal autonomy, whilst being part of a wider group, and in particular the ability to make a positive impact on the business, which is very important to me. For example, by becoming more involved in credit risk management, I have been able to influence operating cash flow and the way that the sales team operates. Although the global financial crisis was difficult for every company, we went through it relatively unscathed, and the financing structures that we had in place proved resilient. It was a stressful time of course, and the world has changed considerably since then, but I feel that we handled it well.

What attributes do you look for when employing people in your department?

Working for treasury is not simply a job, but a vocation, and I want people in the team who recognise this. Employing a treasury professional is very different from employing a bank dealer, for example, in part because they have quite different motivation. Whereas a bank dealer may measure his or her success in financial terms alone, good treasurers are motivated by their ability to contribute to the business.

Working for treasury is not simply a job, but a vocation

Efficient processes and technology are vital to a well-run treasury, but these have their limitations in preventing fraud or error, so trust is a key attribute in treasury. While professional competence is obviously important, I value honesty, loyalty, commitment and trustworthiness very highly. Businesses change over time: for example, we have set up a payments SSC outside treasury, so I need to be confident that people will continue to follow procedures and act in the interests of the company.

Finally, treasurers need to embrace new solutions and innovations and be open-minded in identifying where they can add value. Corporate treasury is not simply about understanding products and financial instruments, but about recognising the benefits they can bring to the business.

How important do you think a formal treasury education is, as opposed to (or as well as) more general finance qualifications?

I find this an interesting topic. In Poland, unlike countries such as UK and US, there are no structured treasury qualifications and the Polish Corporate Treasurers’ Association is far smaller and less formal. Consequently, whereas a treasurer in the UK needs to pursue a formal treasury education as part of their treasury career, this is not the case in Poland. Instead, as a small treasury community, reputation is very important in addition to demonstrable professional competence. As many foreign multinationals have centralised their treasury activities into global or regional treasury centres, their treasury presence in Poland will often be quite limited, so treasury roles are often operational rather than strategic in their scope.

Based on your career so far, what would your advice be to finance professionals who are perhaps in their first treasury role?

While there are many paths into treasury, working for a bank offers very strong, broad experience that provides an excellent basis for joining a corporate treasury function. Having done this, working for a small treasury gives the opportunity to engage with a wide range of treasury and wider finance issues, such as accounting and tax, which is valuable experience before joining a larger company. While treasurers work within policies and process guidelines, it is important to be self-sufficient and creative in the way that they approach the role, and constantly look at ways to improve efficiency and add value.

What would your ideal holiday be?

Perhaps relaxing on a small boat with good friends and family: sailing, sunshine, swimming and sightseeing!

What book have you read recently that you would recommend, and why?

For a good holiday read, try J'adore New York by Isabelle Lafleche. For something more serious, I recently read Bon Petit Soldat by Mazarine Pingeot, daughter of François Mitterand which was very good. In particular, it illustrated the marked difference between the public and private perception of a person, and the cost to both individuals and their families of celebrity and fame.