Enterprise Risk Management: Is it Relevant to Government?

This paper, published by the AICPA, discusses how government entities today are facing more risks to their organizational goals than ever.  With the increased funding due to the economic bailout and federal stimulus initiatives, there are new and unique challenges facing government agencies and greater public scrutiny of how government agencies manage those challenges.  Many people consider ERM as a program only appropriate for corporations; however at its core it is simply a process using a top-down approach to view risks throughout the entire organization, regardless of the type of organization.

The best way for governmental agencies to begin ERM is with a discussion among the highest level employees about the biggest risks the agency is facing and how they are being managed.  This way, key risks can be linked with mission critical strategies and drivers of these risks can be identified.  Management will be able to utilize this information to organize and rank the most important risks to be considered.

Original Article Source: “Enterprise Risk Management: Is it Relevant to Government?” AICPA, Feb. 1, 2010.