Deloitte: Risk is increasingly a C-Suite issue

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

A joint Deloitte and Forbes Insights survey ‘Aftershock: Adjusting to the new world of risk management’ reveals almost half the executives surveyed (49%) said the main responsibility for overall risk management now sat with either the Chief Executive Officer or the Chief Financial Officer, while only 19% said that responsibility belonged with the Chief Risk Officer.

“Since the GFC, companies globally have continued to experience massive disruptions within their businesses – a trend that is reflected in the Aftershock survey with respondents saying they were concerned about increased volatility in their financial (66%), strategic (63%) and operational (58%) risk profiles,” said Harvey Christophers, Deloitte’s Risk Services Leader.

He also said that , 40% of Australian Audit Committee Chairs who responded to Deloitte’s recent Audit Committee Effectiveness Survey identified risk as one of their top three issues over the next 12 to 24 months and we are seeing a number of ASX100 organisations embark on projects to overhaul their risk management processes – often sponsored or lead by the CEO and Board.

“The vast majority of US executives surveyed (91%) saying they planned to reorganize their risk management approach to some degree in the next three years,” he said.  ”However, according to 28% of respondents the most common challenge to effective risk management was that ‘people are unaware of what they need to do concerning risk’, indicating that traditional risk management approaches are no longer hitting the mark.”