CTP (AFP) study plan
CTP · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Cash and Liquidity Management
Define cash positioning, cash forecasting, and liquidity buffer concepts in your own words
Diagram how a concentration/sweep structure moves funds from collection accounts to a header account
Compute a company's available liquidity from a short set of balance and facility facts
List the trade-offs among physical pooling, notional pooling, and in-house banking
Your checkpoint
One-page annotated cash concentration diagram plus 25 answered practice questions on cash and liquidity with written corrections for every miss
Cash and Liquidity Management & Risk Management
Build a 13-week rolling cash forecast from a set of assumed receipts and disbursements
Explain how a short-term investment policy constrains maturity, credit quality, and concentration
Identify the liquidity risks created by mismatched cash inflow and outflow timing
Distinguish static from dynamic liquidity measures and state when each is used
Your checkpoint
Completed 13-week rolling cash forecast spreadsheet with a 10-line written memo on the top three liquidity risks it reveals
Risk Management
Categorize financial risks into market, credit, liquidity, and operational buckets using worked examples
Calculate the cash impact of a 100-basis-point rate move on a floating-rate debt position
Describe how forwards, futures, swaps, and options transfer risk, and state one limitation of each
Outline the elements of a counterparty credit assessment for a bank deposit
Your checkpoint
Risk register of at least 12 treasury risks, each with a likelihood, impact, and named mitigation, plus 25 answered risk questions
Risk Management & Treasury Management Fundamentals
Apply a hedge decision framework to three short scenarios and select the appropriate instrument
Explain how internal controls and segregation of duties reduce treasury operational risk
Summarize the treasury function's role in capital structure and working capital decisions
Draft control narratives for payments authorization and bank account reconciliation
Your checkpoint
Timed 30-question half-mock covering Domains 2 and 3, scored and reviewed with a written error log by topic
Treasury Management Fundamentals
Map the treasury operating model, including reporting lines and interfaces with accounting and FP&A
Trace how a transaction flows from initiation to settlement to reconciliation
Compute key working capital metrics from given receivables, payables, and inventory figures
State the treasury implications of short-term financing choices such as commercial paper versus a revolver
Your checkpoint
End-to-end process map of one transaction type with control points annotated, plus a one-page working capital metric cheat sheet
Payments, Technology and Banking Relationships & Treasury Management Fundamentals
Compare payment rails on speed, finality, cost, and reversibility
Explain the risk and control differences among wires, ACH, cards, and real-time payments
Evaluate bank account structures and fee arrangements against a stated business need
Describe how treasury management systems, APIs, and ERP integrations change cash visibility
Your checkpoint
Payment rail comparison matrix across six attributes plus 20 answered questions on payments and banking relationships
Payments, Technology and Banking Relationships & Risk Management
Assess fraud and cybersecurity exposure across payment initiation and approval workflows
Design a control set that mitigates payment fraud without blocking legitimate transactions
Explain what to request in a bank relationship review and how to score service performance
Resolve three integrated scenarios that combine payment mechanics with liquidity and risk constraints
Your checkpoint
Written payment fraud control plan of at least one page plus a scored bank relationship scorecard sample
Treasury Management Fundamentals & Cash and Liquidity Management & Risk Management & Payments, Technology and Banking Relationships
Take two full-length timed practice exams under test-day conditions
Re-sort every missed question by domain and by root cause such as knowledge gap or misread
Re-teach the three weakest subtopics from scratch without notes
Build a one-page formula and concept sheet covering all four domains for final review
Your checkpoint
Two completed timed mock exams with scores recorded, an error log showing at least 90 percent of misses resolved, and a final one-page review sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Can build a 13-week cash forecast unaided and explain each line to someone else in under 10 minutes
Week 4: Score at or above 65 percent on the Domain 2 and 3 half-mock, with every miss logged by subtopic
Week 6: Score at or above 70 percent on a mixed 40-question set spanning all four domains
Week 8: Achieve two consecutive full-length mock scores at or above 75 percent and close all open items in the error log