Help shape the organisation behind a global treasury community, strengthening the financial and operational foundations that enable the ACT to educate, support and represent the profession.
About the role
Reporting to the Chief Executive, you will be one of five Executive leaders and a close partner to the CEO, Council and the Audit, Risk & Appointments Committee. You will lead finance alongside HR, ICT, data and facilities, bringing insight and constructive challenge to decisions across the ACT.
The breadth of the role matters. The ACT is a relatively small organisation with significant reach, so Executive leadership moves regularly between long-term strategy and the practical decisions needed to keep the organisation working well.
You will help maintain financial resilience while contributing to the ACT’s next strategy and ensuring its people, systems and resources support the organisation effectively. You will inherit strong foundations, while having space to consider what the ACT needs next.
Who we are looking for
You will be a qualified accountant with senior financial leadership experience and the ability to lead confidently beyond finance. Experience across areas such as people, technology, data, risk or wider organisational operations will be important.
Experience of membership or not-for-profit organisations would be valuable, but we are open to relevant experience from other sectors.
Your judgement and approach to relationships will matter. You will know when to support and when to challenge, work constructively with Council and colleagues, and be comfortable moving between strategic questions and detailed operational decisions.
We welcome interest from people who connect with the ACT’s work and can see how their experience could contribute, including those whose career path may be different from established routes into professional body leadership.
To access the job information pack for this position, please follow the instructions on the ‘How to Apply’ page. Following this, should you like to have an informal conversation, you can email our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
James Hunt | james@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07711 405444
Welcome from Annette Spencer, Chief Executive
Dear candidate,
Thank you for your interest in joining the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) as our next Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFOO).
The ACT exists to support and develop treasury professionals throughout their careers, set high professional standards and ensure the voice of the real economy is heard by regulators, policymakers and employers. We are the only treasury association to hold a Royal Charter, and today our community includes around 5,000 members and students across the UK and internationally. ACT members and students work within 79% of FTSE100 companies, which gives some indication of the reach of the profession we serve.
We have been through a significant period of development over the past few years. Following the challenges of the Covid pandemic, the ACT has rebuilt its reserves to a healthier financial position and we are now approaching the end of our current three-year strategy. Through this strategy we have focused on developing what we offer members and students, including more flexible qualifications, new treasury apprenticeship pathways, greater digital access and new ways for members to connect with us and each other. Levels of engagement from our members and partners across the treasury community have strengthened.
Against that backdrop, this appointment represents an important succession for us.
Our current CFOO, Clive Emerson, will retire next year after eight years with the ACT. Clive has been an outstanding colleague and a stabilising and collaborative influence within our Executive team. We have deliberately given ourselves time to find his successor and provide a meaningful handover. I want the person joining us to benefit from the foundations already in place while having the space to establish their own relationships and contribute their own thinking.
As CFOO, you will be one of five Executive leaders and a close strategic partner to me personally. Finance is central to the role, alongside responsibility for HR, ICT, data and facilities. You will also work closely with our Council and Audit, Risk & Appointments Committee, providing the analysis, judgement and constructive challenge that support good decisions.
We are a relatively small organisation, so the breadth of Executive leadership here matters. On any given day, our conversations can move from the next organisational strategy or financial planning to a practical issue affecting colleagues right now. I will be looking for a CFOO who is comfortable switching modes seamlessly and who sees their responsibility as extending across the ACT, rather than stopping at the boundaries of their own functions.
You will need to be a qualified accountant with strong financial leadership experience, but I am equally interested in your wider experience and your judgement, how you build trust and how you work with others. The ability to support and challenge thoughtfully, understand different perspectives and make proportionate decisions will matter greatly.
I hope this pack gives you a good introduction to the ACT, our work and this role. If you can see how your experience could contribute to what we are building, I very much hope you will consider joining us.
Kind regards,
Annette Spencer
Chief Executive
Association of Corporate Treasurers
About the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT)
The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) is the professional body for treasurers and related roles in the UK and internationally.
Treasury sits at the heart of successful organisations. Treasurers help businesses understand and manage financial risk, secure funding, maintain liquidity and make informed decisions about investment and growth. In an increasingly complex and uncertain world, that role has never been more important.
Our purpose is to set standards and qualifications in treasury, support and develop treasurers throughout their careers, and ensure the voice of the real economy is heard by regulators, policymakers and employers.
Put simply, we are here to help treasury professionals be the best they can be, and to strengthen the profession they are part of.
A profession with real influence
The ACT was founded in 1979, at a time when volatile financial markets and growing international trade were changing the way organisations thought about financial risk.
A small group of practitioners recognised that treasury was becoming a profession in its own right and that it needed a professional body to support its development.
More than four decades later, our reach is international. We have around 5,000 members and students across 81 countries, with ACT members and students working within organisations of every size and across virtually every sector. In the UK, our community reaches into 79% of FTSE 100 companies.
In 2013, the ACT was awarded a Royal Charter. We remain the only professional treasury association to hold one, reflecting both the standing of the profession and our responsibility to work in the public interest.
Educating, supporting and leading
Our work spans the professional journey, from someone considering treasury for the first time through to some of the most experienced treasury leaders in the world.
We educate.
Our internationally recognised qualifications, training and learning programmes provide a professional pathway into treasury and support people as their careers develop. Our competency framework helps define the technical, business and behavioural skills modern treasury professionals need.
We support.
Membership of the ACT provides access to knowledge, professional development, insight, events and a global community of peers. We bring people together to exchange ideas, share experience and navigate both the opportunities and challenges facing the profession.
We lead.
We provide an independent and informed voice for corporate treasury. Through our policy and technical work, research and engagement with government, regulators and other institutions, we make sure the perspective of businesses and the real economy is understood when important decisions are being made.
Underpinning all three is our commitment to high professional standards and integrity.
Looking to the future
Treasury itself continues to evolve.
The profession is responding to geopolitical uncertainty, new technology and AI, changing capital markets, cyber risk, sustainability, new forms of payment and growing expectations of finance leaders. At the same time, organisations increasingly recognise that the best treasurers contribute far beyond the traditional boundaries of finance. They are strategic advisers, problem-solvers and important partners to boards and executive teams.
The ACT needs to evolve alongside the profession.
Our strategy for the coming years focuses on four connected priorities:
- evolving our membership structure so that the ACT continues to meet the changing needs of the treasury community
- ensuring our qualifications are modern, relevant and accessible to a new generation of treasury professionals
- strengthening treasury in the UK while extending the ACT’s international reach and relevance
- increasing our influence as the voice of the corporate and finance world
This means thinking carefully about what our members and students will need from us in the future, how people want to learn and engage, and how technology can help us provide a better experience.
It also means making choices about where the ACT can have the greatest influence and ensuring that, internally, we have the systems, resources and ways of working to support those ambitions.
The organisation behind the profession
While the ACT has an international reach and an important external profile, at its heart we are a relatively focused organisation with people working across qualifications and learning, membership, events, policy and technical insight, marketing, commercial partnerships and our central operations.
That creates a working environment where different parts of the organisation need to connect.
The experience our members, students, customers and partners have of the ACT depends not only on the quality of our professional expertise, but on everything behind it. Strong financial stewardship, good governance, thoughtful use of technology, effective systems and processes, and an environment where colleagues can do their best work all matter.
As the ACT continues to evolve, we want to combine the heritage and credibility of a Chartered professional body with the curiosity and adaptability needed for the future.
For someone joining us now, that creates an opportunity to contribute to an organisation with a proud history, a strong sense of purpose and an important role in shaping the future of an international profession.
Learn more about ACT
Accessibility information
The ACT is an equal opportunities employer. Our policy is to recruit the most competent job applicants and to ensure the most able employees progress within the ACT.
All recruitment and promotion decisions are based solely on an objective assessment of an individual’s suitability for the job.
To offer the best service to our customers, we believe the composition of our workforce should reflect that of the community.
The key principles of our Equal Opportunities Policy are set out below:
- No job applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex, marital status or civil partnership, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, colour, race, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, disability or age.
- No job applicant or employee will be disadvantaged by any conditions or requirements of employment, unless those conditions or requirements can be justified by genuine business needs.
- Recruitment and selection criteria and all procedures relating to the assessment of applicants and employees will be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are not discriminatory.
- All employees involved in the recruitment, selection and assessment of job applicants and employees will be given appropriate equal opportunities training.
- All managerial staff should recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure that all job applicants and employees are fairly treated
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and make modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities. We offer the following:
- Although we work largely remotely, we have access to modern offices located near several mainline and tube connections, with step free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and facilities.
- Accessibility dogs are welcome
- We consider requests for flexible working.
- We provide tools and make other reasonable adjustments to accommodate a diverse workforce.
To arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
James Hunt | james@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07711 405444
Thank you for your interest in this role. Please download the job information pack.
To formally apply, please submit a CV and supporting statement (ideally maximum 2 sides of A4 each) that clearly outlines your suitability for the role against the criteria provided in the person specification, including your interest and motivation in applying for this position.
Please include your home address, contact email and mobile.
Please email your application to response@peridotpartners.co.uk, with “Application: Association of Corporate Treasurers—Chief Financial and Operating Officer” in the subject line. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2-3 days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, please contact our admin team.
Following review of the candidate information pack, should you like to have an informal conversation, you may email our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
James Hunt | james@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07711 405444
As a sector-leading executive search consultancy, we know the importance of creating recruitment processes that are fair, inclusive and free from bias. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a process that values differences.
If you require any job information in an alternative format (e.g. large print), please contact the lead consultant. Please also let us know if you would like to submit your application in an alternative format.
Applicants with disabilities are welcome to contact us in confidence at any stage of the recruitment process to discuss any reasonable adjustments or support that may be required to ensure fair and equal participation.
Recruitment selection processes are based on evidence of competence stated in the person specification and in relation to our values.
Timetable
Closing date: 9 a.m. Thursday 15th October 2026
Candidates informed of outcome: Wednesday 21st October 2026 (by COB)
First stage interviews (virtual): Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th October 2026
Psychometric exercises & informal chats with senior staff (virtual): Between first and second interviews
Second stage interviews(in person, London): Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th November 2026
Fireside chats (virtual or in person): Early w/c Monday 23rd November (with Deputy President and Chair of the Audit, Risk and Appointments Committee)
Equal Opportunities Monitoring
Peridot and ACT are committed to promoting equality and diversity. To help us raise awareness and support a culture that is diverse and recognises and develops the potential of all, we need to appreciate the profile of candidates who apply for positions. We will send you an equality monitoring survey at the point of receiving your application and at the time of placement. This ensures that our processes remain inclusive and equitable throughout, and provides us with important data to help us showcase our impact.
The information will be treated confidentially and anonymously and will help us to support our commitment to fair recruitment practice. All information provided will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with anyone, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 launched on 25 May 2018.
The information provided does not form part of the decision-making process and will not affect your application. Learn more about why we collect this data here.
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