Board members should discuss this excellent paper on Boards and the Taking of Risk for Success

The ACCA published an excellent product a couple of years ago. Risk and the Strategic Role of Leadership might have been written by three UK academics, but reflects the practical thinking of board members as well as risk practitioners.

Here are some notable excerpts, with some highlighted by me:

• Boards have always been involved in the management of risk. Without appropriate risk taking, organisations cannot exploit the full range of strategic opportunities that are available to them, nor can they hope to protect themselves from less positive outcomes.
• Effective risk assessment, reporting and control help to enhance a board’s governance and internal control activities, reducing the probability that an organisation may deviate from its stated objectives and so fail to meet the needs of its stakeholders.
• Risk may bring with it the potential for losses, but it also offers the potential for opportunity.
• Boards are still finding it hard to understand and address softer factors, such as culture and risk appetite. Often, this is because of a lack of clear information and difficulties in connecting…