Today has been a great day at the ACT Annual Conference 2013. Day 2 of the conference is the only full day of the conference programme and exhibition, and for that reason there is an extra buzz around Liverpool's BT Convention Centre as attendees try and get their business done and sessions attended before the Thursday night entertainment.

It has been a great day for me personally too, as I got to meet the legend that is Chris Kamara! If you're not aware of Kammy's work, he was a professional footballer for a variety of clubs up and down the UK, and since retirement has achieved even greater heights as a presenter and analyst for Sky Sports:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8gKmQ6Hrro    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fz_Ts5TgGU     

Chris was on the Barclays stand in the exhibition hall doing a meet and greet and was very generous with his time, chatting about Everton's chances in this Sunday's Merseyside derby. I came away with a signed football, a photo, and one of life's ambitions ticked off - not bad for a post-lunch stroll through the main exhibition hall!

Beyond my football excitement, a number of the conversations I've had at the conference have brought up the topic of visibility.  If only there was a neat video that linked Chris Kamara and visibility...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmdigLFduDk    

Apologies. Moving on, visibility has been a buzzword in our industry for a few years now. When the financial crisis hit and the markets seized up, the need to know exactly where your cash was and how liquid your cash positions were came into sharp focus. In Liverpool this week I've heard the conversation around visibility move on in a few different ways. For example, achieving cash visibility is one thing, but what do you do once you have this view over your cash positions? How can you make your cash work its hardest for you? Alongside questions such as these, treasury visibility also encompasses the world of risk management. In the post-crisis world, the board expect to be kept abreast of the company's underlying exposures. In many cases, treasurers will need to be able to reassure senior management as to why certain positions have been taken and demonstrate that their actions follow the organisation's preferred risk appetite.  

While the quest for visibility began for many as a result of the financial crisis, it is now fundamental to the way that a 21st century treasury department operates.