This article is a follow on from ‘Risk Management Function – Internal Audit considerations’ feature which was posted in April 2022.
Risk Management, and the Risk Management Framework (RMF), is a pillar of any (at least) medium sized company’s Corporate Governance structure and is a key focus for the Internal Audit function whether scoping any audit, or planning to perform an audit of the RMF itself. So, what does Business and Industry think are the areas for risk focus in 2023?
JCBFL has performed a brief survey of industry views as to the general risk landscape for 2023. The survey takes in the leading internal audit and accounting institute in the UK, Time and Forbes magazines, a leading global insurance group and KPMG. The top 10 risks for each have been categorised and colour coded across 7 risk areas:
The results across the 5 organisations surveyed are:
Summary – what sticks out!
• It probably comes as no surprise that cyber risks are in all the top 10 lists although perhaps of more interest is the top positioning of data security/cyber for 3 of 5 organisations surveyed.
• Supply chain type risks figure in all the lists but mid-table.
• Economic and political uncertainty appears in every list with inflation expressly referenced by TIME (# 4) and Forbes (# 8).
• TIME focuses specifically on Russia, China, Iran and a ‘Divided States of America’ whereas the other lists are more generalised in their geopolitical referencing.
• Human capital risks feature in 4 of 5 lists with varying degrees of weighting attached; IIA/ICAEW (#2), Forbes (#s 3 & 4), Allianz (# 9 joint) and KPMG (#3).
• Climate Change is mentioned in all the lists and comes in at number 2 for Forbes and KPMG.