Professors Mark Beasley and Bruce Branson of the North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management have shared with us for 14 years the results of their surveys of risk management practices.
Their latest report, 2023 the State of Risk Oversight: An Overview of Enterprise Risk Management Practices, is based on the responses of 454 people. 21% are CFOs, 12% are CROs, 10% lead the internal audit function, and 7% have the title of Controller. 25% are from small organizations with annual revenues of $10 million or less. 130 (32%) are with companies of $1 billion or more in revenue, and 121 (30%) are at not-for profit organizations.
While I would like to think otherwise, I don’t expect small companies to make significant investments in specialist risk management staff or systems. Instead, they rely on operating management to understand risks and opportunities facing the organization and make related informed and intelligent decisions.
Before reviewing the results of the survey, it is useful to consider the questions that Mark and Bruce have posed to the respondents. (They are in Appendix B.)
- Every question is focused on potential events or situations that might have a negative effect on the business. None are about understanding and considering positive events or situations, opportunities.
- There are…
