NZ companies are not leveraging risk management

NZ companies are not leveraging risk management

24 February 2016

‘Risk on the Rise: a Snapshot of Business Risk in New Zealand’, looks at risk management in the public, private and not for profit sectors and reveals that only 6% of respondents feel that their organisation faces less risk than 12 months ago. This is exacerbated by the perception that the velocity of risks is also increasing; 52% of organisations surveyed said that the risks they face are occurring more rapidly than 12 months ago.

Murray Chandler, Partner and National Director, Operational Advisory at Grant Thornton New Zealand says, “The top three front of mind risks that survey participants think they’ll face over the next 12 months are reputational, cyber and regulatory.

“In New Zealand alone, the National Cyber Security Centre states that 190 security incidents were reported for the 12 months to June 2015.

“This could be part of the reason why organisations have invested more in risk management, both in terms of budgets and tools such as risk management software. However, the survey results show that there’s a decline in the perceived value of risk management in New Zealand organisations.

“According to our research, risk management is increasingly being viewed as just a compliance or box ticking exercise, and is delivering less value to senior management and Boards of Directors.
“This means that opportunities to leverage risk management to drive strategic business discussions are being missed, which is concerning, when you consider the full benefit an active risk management strategy can deliver. The survey indicates it is not what we are doing about risk management but how we are doing it.

“Risk management’s key function is to provoke discussions that drive action. To achieve this, there must be meaningful discussion about risks and what your organisation is doing about them”.

ENDS

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