Recession Drives Risk Management Overhaul

An overwhelming 85 percent of corporate executives say they need to overhaul their approach to risk management as a result of the economic downturn, according to a new survey.

The study, by Accenture, found that 85 percent of the executives polled cited ineffective integration of risk, return and capital issues as one of the main problems with their risk management functions. Other problems included a lack of alignment between the company’s strategies and its risk appetite, cited by 85 percent of the respondents.

Insufficient enterprise-wide risk culture was cited by 82 percent of the respondents, while 80 percent said their companies suffered from inadequate availability of timely risk, finance and business data. Forty percent of the respondents said their companies already have increased or will increase their investments in broader risk-management capabilities in the next six months.

Accenture surveyed 260 chief financial officers, chief risk officers and other executives with risk-management responsibilities at large companies in 21 countries for the study.