The Philosophy Behind Treasury

Greetings to my dear readers. I want to talk about treasury first. The word treasury comes from the idea of a place where valuable things were stored and protected. In ancient kingdoms and empires, one of the most important functions of government was safeguarding wealth collected through taxes, tribute, trade, or conquest. The room, building, or department responsible for this became known as the treasury. What made treasury so important was that no kingdom, empire, government, or business could survive without managing its money. Armies needed to be paid, merchants financed, debts settled, and taxes collected. The treasury became the center of financial power.

I believe treasury was a Godly gift to humanity. If you do a philosophical comparison, imagine God creating the universe (the wealth). To protect it, He created rules, physics, and everything that keeps the universe standing. Treasury is all about those rules. We stand like an unshakable force that governs wealth. It is an ancient talent that never becomes obsolete. To give you a basic understanding and feeling of treasury, take one gram of gold, place it inside a box, and guard it. That's what it's all about. Probably the best example here.

Treasury in the Modern World

We are in the 21st century. Reality around wealth has changed. Talent requires more reading than ever before. Treasury is no exception. Many treasury negotiators and professionals attend well-known universities around the world. They aim for Harvard, Oxford, and others. Some take courses and connect with real-world legends, such as CEOs of banks and financial institutions. Alright, they do anything to make something out of themselves. And that's good. You cannot become a professional in what you do if you are stuck within the reality of a specific place. Some treasurers travel to other countries, meet with banks, study their financial systems, and do FX. That's what I call treasury. You place a goal on a clear sheet of paper, visit the country, and analyze it.

One of the certifications many treasury professionals pursue is CTP. Probably the number one certification you can ever get in your life. I want to tell you something. I went through their course as a Tajik, a Persian, sat for their exam. So I believe my task is to inform you how you will feel the impact of this certification in your life. And here we go.

Do Not Expect Extraordinary Things

CTP is not here to give you a doorway to something unknown or unseen. It is not here to give you magical powers. The study material provided to you contains about 35-40% information that you already know. If you are a treasury professional with five years of experience across different banks, financial institutions, and management companies in two or three countries, expect to read things you already know.

CTP favors Western professionals and North Americans more. People who were born and raised there already understand how checks, banks, and many financial systems work. For them, up to 60% of the study material is easy to digest, and they usually struggle more with the math. Generally, they all struggle with math.

Pay Attention to the Price

It will cost you around USD 2,500. Now let me tell you something. For an average American, European, or generally Western treasury professional, that's one-quarter or even one-sixth of their monthly salary. When it comes to Central Asia or Africa, that's where it gets interesting. For the Western community, buying CTP materials and paying for everything necessary is often just a matter of personal expenses if they do not want to discuss it with their company. Sometimes they do ask, simply to check whether the company offers educational benefits.

But when it comes to Africa, Central Asia, and the Global South, even if you have enough money to pay for CTP yourself, you will most likely reach out to your company first and check whether they can fund it. The thing is, the salary gap in those regions is enormous, so be prepared. Go to HR or straight to the CEO if that's possible and say it clearly: "Here's CTP. This is the knowledge I will gain, and this is how I will apply it in my work." In this world, if you don't fight for what is yours, if you don't take initiative, nothing will truly be yours. When you see something that belongs to your future, go and take it.

The Essence of Trials Is to Trick You

When I say trials, I don't only mean the CTP exam. It applies to life as well. The exam was not created just to test you. It was created to trick you first and then test you. The same can be said about life. When it comes to CTP, you need a good understanding of theories and a strong vocabulary. If you are really bad with synonyms and randomly ask people, "How are you from?" or reply, "I am from good," you are cooked. You are genuinely cooked.

The CTP exam uses academic vocabulary. Let me give you a small comparison. Pay attention to my text: "A really bad tornado just wiped out a building belonging to a chocolate company, and now the people inside the company don't know what to do." Now look at how CTP would formulate this: "An ABC Manufacturing organization's primary production facility experiences a sudden, catastrophic force majeure event resulting in total asset impairment. The treasury department is tasked with evaluating the immediate operational impact. Management notes that while data centers are mirrored offsite, there is an absence of predefined protocols detailing alternative manual processing sites for treasury operations. To mitigate the resulting operational risk, which element of the organization's risk management framework was deficient?" Now, if you read the CTP version of the text, you will understand what I mean. Be prepared for that. Skip the unnecessary wording and get straight to the meaning and essence.