Corporate Governance: Practical Risk Management

Risk management is not a new concept. However, with the advent of numerous corporate governance codes in countries throughout the world risk management is receiving much greater prominence and emphasis than ever before. In the past, many enterprises have suffered because they did not rank risk management as a business process, in all activities. Against this backdrop one cannot ignore the four pillars of corporate governance: fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency towards all stakeholders. In achieving these objectives, the enterprise will have to move away from a short-term focus to a longer-term horizon. The target is sustainability and risk management in order to thrive. Risk is inevitable but one needs to know what to do. Who takes responsibility and who is accountable? The old adage ‘the buck stops here’ provides the answer. Responsibility and accountability lie with everyone seated at the boardroom table. There is no economic advantage to approach risk on a ‘let’s wait and see if it happens, and then we will do something’. Spending time beforehand, identifying risks, especially those that could put you out of business, makes good financial sense. It is for this reason that Corporate Governance: Practical Risk Management has been written to give guidance on how to navigate through the tricky minefields of enterprise-wide risk management, especially for newly appointed or inexperienced directors. Other members of senior management will also benefit by the book’s clear and practical approach to risk management, which deals with relevant issues in bite-sized chunks for ease of understanding.