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Poole College of Management
Enterprise Risk Management Initiative

All Resources

Oct 26, 2015

A Chief Compliance Officer’s Role in Risk Management

Risks, rules, and regulations: Can today's chief compliance officers keep up? It is commonly known that a company's ability to assess and manage risks to meet stakeholder expectations may ultimately determine the success or failure of an organization. Deloitte and Compliance Week, in their collaborative efforts, have administered a survey to annually assess corporate America's ability to keep up with these rising expectations and to address issues and concerns resulting from current trends.

Oct 1, 2015

Value Creation through Risk Management

Many companies have come to realize that risk management serves more than just a compliance function. In the ever-changing risk environment we live in today, risk management also serves to add value to the company. After conducting their Global Governance, Risk and Compliance Survey, EY published a white paper with a three-step approach to risk management.

Sep 1, 2015

Integrating Sustainability with Enterprise Risk Management

Sustainability policies have a meaningful role in managing risk, and can also promote faster growth. Have you ever heard the saying ‘you have to spend money to make money?’ This remains true for investments in sustainability and risk management - yes, investing money in sustainability and risk management will more than pay for itself. A white paper authored by James Lam and Frances Quinn and published by Workiva highlights the role and benefits sustainability plays in enterprise risk management and explains how to successfully integrate sustainability into the risk management framework.

Jun 16, 2014

2014 Research Report on Current State of Enterprise Risk Management

The 2014 Research Report on Enterprise Risk Management provides insights from 446 executives across various industries, exploring the maturity of ERM processes in their organizations.

May 1, 2014

Understanding Risk Appetite

In order for directors to oversee risk management effectively, there must be a clear understanding of what constitutes the organization’s risk appetite. The concept of a risk appetite is fairly new and can be a bit confusing. A recent thought paper by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) seeks to explain risk appetite in “plain English.” The thought paper defines risk appetite, describes how to develop a risk appetite statement, and explains the oversight role of the board in the development of the risk appetite process

Apr 1, 2014

How Global Changes Can Affect the Business Environment

As organizations develop their strategic plans, their horizons are often only looking out over the next two-to-three years. While staying focused on the “here and now” is important, failure to look at broader trends of how the world may be shifting may cause some boards and executive teams to wake up some day in the future to discover their strategies are no longer viable. To help organizations consider how shifts may be on the horizon, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recently published information about five megatrends that are already changing the business environment. A megatrend is a change on a global scale that is often verified with factual data. In the past few years PwC has noticed that its clients are identifying and changing their strategies because of these megatrends. This article explains each of the five megatrends identified and then highlights possible effects of each trend.

Jan 1, 2014

Six Recommendations to Improve Board Risk Oversight

The financial crisis and subsequent performance failures, including bankruptcy, has resulted in a bright spotlight on boards for a number of organizations in regards to their effectiveness - and lack thereof - in risk oversight. Scrutiny has increased from regulators and other key stakeholders calling on boards to ensure their risk oversight efforts are strengthened. A recent Deloitte thought paper offers six recommendations that boards may want to consider to strengthen the board's overall risk intelligence.

Jan 1, 2014

The Importance of Integrating Risk Management with Strategy

A recent thought paper, 10 Lessons in Integrating Risk Management with Strategy by Protiviti uses examples of both corporate failures and successes to learn what helped those that survived and thrived reach different outcomes than those that failed and disappeared. The thought paper provides lessons learned as well as tools and techniques executives can use to improve their company’s chances of surviving and thriving in an ever-changing world. The thought paper finds that surviving and thriving companies were able to respond to a pending crisis because they integrate risk into their strategic discussions, allowing them to react quickly enough to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Nov 1, 2013

Create Synergies between Risk Management and Internal Audit

Companies are always scanning the business landscape for the next way to get ahead, to gain a competitive advantage, and to take the next step, particularly in the area of risk management. Most companies have some form of risk management, whether the traditional silos or the more robust enterprise risk management, and their purpose ranges from protecting assets to pursuing opportunities. These same companies often have an over-looked, or at least underutilized asset, in their internal audit function. Internal audit understands the business operations and controls; however, they share a common goal with risk management, which is to improve the effectiveness of risk management. This common goal leads to a potential synergy that can help a company reach that next step in risk management. The Risk Insurance Management Society ("RIMS") and The Institute of Internal Auditors ("IIA") joint white paper highlights the why, the how, and the proof that leveraging your internal audit function in risk management can not only work, but work well.

Nov 1, 2013

Collaborative Risk Management Fundamentals

Over the last decade, a number of organizations have embraced the concept of enterprise risk management (ERM) as a way to strengthen their oversight of the most significant risks to their business. Fortunately, many of realized a number of benefits from an enterprise-wide analysis of their most significant risks, while others unfortunately have experienced frustration in their ERM efforts. A recent thought paper by the Arthur J. Gallagher Think Tank for Higher Education Risk Management highlights common reasons for ERM failure and it identifies common factors associated with entities who are finding value in their ERM efforts. The paper emphasizes the value of strengthened collaboration across the management team as one of the keys to ERM success. The paper calls on organizations to distinguish between risk management as a one-time function performed singlehandedly, and the process of managing risk, which involves collaborative effort and embedded process throughout the organization.