The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) is the professional chartered body for treasurers and related roles in the UK and internationally, with globally recognised qualifications and training. This year, the ACT has taken its most sought-after formal qualification, the Certificate in Treasury CertT, and diced it up into eight small bites to allow treasury professionals to gain standalone qualifications, or choose a bit-by-bit, additive route to gaining the coveted CertT.
The new programme comprises eight so-called MicroCredentials. If – and when, there is no timeline – candidates complete all credentials they will achieve the same CertT qualification. “It’s just a different way of doing it to the same end,” explains Janet Legge, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Awarding Body and Learning at the ACT, who has overseen the new programme’s evolution over the last 18 months.
In a pay-as-you-go model people can take whatever credential they choose and each module costs between £350-£390 plus a small student license fee to the ACT. It allows candidates to press pause on gaining qualifications if they move career or find studying alongside work suddenly challenging, she explains.
Topics comprise risk management, working capital and cash, FX and interest rate management, liquidity and international trade, capital markets and funding, treasury operations and sustainability, and corporate finance and treasury policy. The programme is structured around learning combined with activities and exercises and includes backup support whereby candidates can “drop in” for learning support on specific issues they are struggling with.
In an interview with Treasury Today, Legge explains that the introduction of MicroCredentials reflects the fact people want to amass qualifications and consume information in a different way. “Today, people want things quicker and only want to learn what they need to know,” she says. In the current environment, she notes it is also more difficult for people to get corporate sponsorship for big ticket qualifications that can cost thousands. “Businesses always seem to cut back on learning and development when things get tough. It is the first thing they take out of the budget.”
MicroCredentials are particularly tailored to suit people mid-career, she continues. They are also just as suitable for those who do not directly work in treasury but have a role alongside the treasury function where a MicroCredential in, say, corporate finance could help them better support and work more closer with their treasury colleagues/team. In another example, older or more experienced treasury folk who qualified a while back might want to dip in to refresh on topics around technology or other modern elements of treasury.
She estimates the typical time frame to complete each credential is between one to two months, but motivated people will be able to complete each credential in a few weeks. All the courses are online, and students can book their exam whenever they like. “It really does work in terms of what people want to do,” she says.
Legge describes endorsement of the new programme from members as enthusiastic – to the extent she wishes the ACT had introduced it sooner – and says MicroCredentials have appealed to a much broader group than the more meaty, single qualification.
She believes the most popular credentials will comprise technology and digitisation, as well as risk management and sustainability, and recognises that enthusiasm for different topics will ebb and flow depending on what is happening in world. She also notes that they are useful because they give treasury professionals a comprehensive overview of complex topics, without having to actually become proficient in the topic. “For example, where it comes to GenAI, people don’t necessarily want to learn how to do the technical coding elements, but they want to understand how it works and know which questions to ask,” she says.
The ACT’s programme will evolve overtime. Looking ahead, the ACT is considering adding qualifications around soft skills like leadership and communication. She also wants to see if she can adapt the programme to support ACT members seeking a higher level of skills. “If we wanted to add on strategic thinking or negotiating, we could link it in quite easily,” she says.
Booking is already open, but the programme will not begin until September.
