HLP CAPITAL ADVISORY · TREASURY DIVISION

Treasury & Cash
Management.
Advisory.

Business owners obsess over revenue. Very few architect their treasury infrastructure. The result: idle cash, uninsured deposits, ACH fraud exposure, missed sweep yield, and no dual-approval discipline until something goes wrong. HLP builds the education and coordination — licensed treasury bankers execute.

Explore the 12 topics See Service Tiers
WHAT HLP OWNS
Education · architecture · policy · coordination
↔ CLEAR DIVISION
WHAT LICENSED TREASURY BANKERS OWN
Account opening · execution · products · fiduciary
THE PROBLEM

Where owners bleed value.

$250K
FDIC MAX PER ACCOUNT
42%
OVER-CONCENTRATE ONE BANK
$60B
ANNUAL US ACH FRAUD LOSS
3×
SWEEP YIELD vs. IDLE CHECKING

The 2023 regional-bank crisis (SVB, Signature, First Republic) exposed how many operators had all their cash sitting in one uninsured relationship. Even outside crisis moments, most businesses run without a formal treasury policy, without dual approval on wires, and without a sweep structure earning market yield on operating reserves.

THE ARCHITECTURE

A properly architected treasury.

Not a checking account. A layered system — each layer with a purpose, a control set, and a licensed banker who owns execution.

BUSINESS OWNER ├── OPERATING LAYER │ ├── Operating account daily inflow / outflow │ ├── Payroll account isolated from operating │ └── Merchant / card-processing account Stripe · Square · Chase Payment │ ├── RESERVE LAYER │ ├── Tax reserve quarterly estimates + safe-harbor │ ├── Liquidity reserve 3-6 months burn │ └── Working-capital buffer seasonal / project bridges │ ├── YIELD LAYER │ ├── Sweep / MMDA automatic overnight yield │ ├── T-bill ladders 4/13/26-week rolling │ └── ICS / CDARS insured cash beyond $250K/inst │ ├── CONTROL LAYER │ ├── Dual-approval matrix who signs what │ ├── ACH positive pay block unauthorized debits │ ├── Wire callback procedure verified out-of-band │ ├── Fraud alerts + limits daily / per-transaction │ └── Signer authority register audit-ready record │ └── RELATIONSHIP LAYER ├── Primary banker dedicated RM · SLA-defined ├── Secondary institution redundancy / concentration hedge └── Private-bank readiness when treasury grows into it
THE 12 TOPICS

Every discipline. Named.

Each topic is a coordinated engagement — education first, implementation second, always with a licensed banker owning the execution side.

TOPIC 01
Operating Accounts
HLP COORDINATES
Account architecture · account naming discipline · monthly reconciliation cadence · owner-draw vs. distribution structure · bookkeeping-ready categorization.
SPECIALIST · BUSINESS BANKER · CPA
TOPIC 02
Payroll Accounts
HLP COORDINATES
Isolation from operating · trust-account posture · payroll-tax reserve carve-out · Gusto / ADP / Rippling integration checklist · direct-deposit fraud controls.
SPECIALIST · PAYROLL PROVIDER · BANKER
TOPIC 03
Tax Reserves
HLP COORDINATES
Estimated-tax cadence · federal + state carve · S-Corp distribution buffer · quarterly safe-harbor · CPA handoff · tax-vault documentation.
SPECIALIST · CPA · TAX ATTORNEY
TOPIC 04
Sweep Structures
HLP COORDINATES
Overnight sweep target · MMDA-eligible balance floor · sweep tier evaluation · yield-vs-fee analysis · monthly reconciliation.
SPECIALIST · TREASURY BANKER
TOPIC 05
Insured Cash
HLP COORDINATES
FDIC coverage mapping · ICS/CDARS eligibility · multi-institution laddering · state-guaranty considerations · SVB-lesson concentration audit.
SPECIALIST · TREASURY BANKER
TOPIC 06
Treasury Controls
HLP COORDINATES
Written treasury policy · signer authority register · role-based access · audit-trail documentation · quarterly control review cadence.
SPECIALIST · CPA · CFO
TOPIC 07
ACH Controls
HLP COORDINATES
Positive pay setup · ACH block on outbound · authorized-originator register · unauthorized-debit dispute procedure · Nacha rules primer.
SPECIALIST · TREASURY BANKER
TOPIC 08
Dual Approvals
HLP COORDINATES
Approval matrix by dollar threshold · out-of-band verification protocol · owner-only exceptions · quarterly signer audit · exception log.
SPECIALIST · BANKER · CFO
TOPIC 09
Wire Procedures
HLP COORDINATES
Callback verification protocol · vendor-onboarding wire-instruction verification · owner-only-executes-wires policy · BEC (business email compromise) hardening.
SPECIALIST · TREASURY BANKER · CYBER INSURANCE
TOPIC 10
Liquidity Reserves
HLP COORDINATES
Burn-rate modeling · reserve tier structure (30/90/180 day) · reserve replenishment triggers · LOC-standby coordination · covenant-adjacent tracking.
SPECIALIST · TREASURY BANKER · CFO
TOPIC 11
Merchant Flows
HLP COORDINATES
Card-processing fee audit · reserve holdback modeling · Stripe/Square/Chase Payment settlement cadence · chargeback-defense playbook · reconciliation.
SPECIALIST · PROCESSOR · CPA
TOPIC 12
Fraud Controls
HLP COORDINATES
Multi-factor auth · dedicated treasury-only device policy · BEC email-domain protection (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) · fraud-insurance rider · quarterly tabletop.
SPECIALIST · CYBER · INSURANCE
SERVICE TIERS

Three engagement tiers.

Every treasury engagement is scoped to revenue and complexity. HLP delivers the coordination and policy — your banker delivers the execution.

TIER 01 · FOUNDATION
Treasury Literacy Workshop
$500K – $2M revenue · one-time engagement
  • 2-hour education session (owner + operators)
  • Written treasury policy draft
  • 3-account architecture recommendation
  • Basic dual-approval matrix
  • Banker introduction (referral MOU)
  • 90-day follow-up call
TIER 03 · ONGOING TREASURY OFFICE
Outsourced Treasury Function
$25M+ revenue · ongoing monthly
  • Monthly treasury operating rhythm
  • Fractional treasury-operations layer
  • Multi-bank relationship management
  • T-bill ladder maintenance
  • Bank-covenant tracking + reporting
  • Fraud tabletop quarterly
  • Signer-authority governance
  • Coordination with CFO / controller
THE CHECKLIST

The non-negotiables.

Every business — regardless of size — should have these 12 controls in place. If you're missing three or more, you're one operational error or one bad actor away from a bad month.

Payroll isolated from operating account
Prevents cascade failures
Tax reserve funded quarterly
Avoids scramble at estimated deadlines
FDIC coverage mapped across accounts
SVB-lesson concentration hedge
Positive pay on ACH debits
Blocks unauthorized ACH pulls
Wire callback protocol · out-of-band
Verified voice callback for wires ≥ threshold
Dual approval on wires + ACH
Two humans, one transaction
Signer authority register maintained
Audit-ready record of who can approve what
Sweep or MMDA earning market yield
Idle cash is a cost
Written treasury policy exists
Signed, dated, version-controlled
Vendor wire instructions re-verified annually
BEC prevention discipline
MFA on all treasury logins
Non-SMS · authenticator or hardware key
Cyber-crime insurance rider
Wire-fraud coverage confirmed in writing
REQUEST COORDINATION

Treasury is the quietest lever.

Book a 60-minute Treasury Discovery. We'll walk your current setup against the 12 controls, identify the top three gaps, and produce a coordination plan within 10 business days — no engagement letter required to receive the plan.

Email treasury@hlpcredit.com Explore Capital Advisory