…InTouch

The latest risk management, resilience, audit, governance and compliance news from InConsult.

 

 

September 2011

Risk Management

10 strategies to keep risk management alive: After developing a formal enterprise risk management framework, one of the ongoing challenges is to keep your risk management program up-to-date.

Source: inconsult.com.au

From Counting Risk to Making Risk Count: Boundary-Work in Risk Management: According to research, the cycle of risk management includes counting risk through quantification and aggregation; controlling risk until something like a financial crisis occurs; and then calculating new risks in an attempt to avoid similar crises in the future.

Source: hbs.edu

Risk Management Kit for Terrorism: The Risk Management Kit for Terrorism is designed to assist operators of declared essential services to meet their legislative requirements under the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003.

Source: transport.vic.gov.au

Economist Intelligence Unit Report on the Maturity of Risk and Compliance: What I want to do here is highlight some of their findings which relate to risk management that I believe are interesting and worth thinking about.

Source: sustainablebusinessforum.com

Risk Management Comes of Age: Companies are looking more closely at risk these days, and they are finding not only that is there more risk to manage but that managing it well can help them be more competitive.

Source: forbes.com

Unheeded Lessons: What Did We Fail to Learn from the Financial Crisis?: Nearly two years after the financial meltdown of September 2008, is the global economy any less risky?

Source: knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Report: Insurers Not Addressing Climate Change Risks: Based on data from 88 insurance company state filings, report reveals that the industry is still largely unprepared to deal with the wide-ranging economic risks posed by climate change.

Source: insurancenetworkng.com

Outsourcing Risk

Aon unit sues Riskonnect after employees jump ship: Aon eSolutions Inc. has filed a lawsuit against a risk management technology provider and three former Aon employees for alleged misappropriation of confidential information and unfair competition.

Source: businessinsurance.com

41 Disruption Scenarios - FREE

InTouch readers who are thinking about conducting a business continuity exercise and would like some ‘creative’ exercise scenarios can email Tony Harb to get a list of 41 exercise ideas.  Email tonyh@inconsult.com.au

Emerging Risks

IMF’s Lagarde Warns World Economy Entering ‘Dangerous’ Phase: The managing director of the International Monetary Fund chief, warned that the world economy is in a “dangerous new phase” and that officials must take new steps to strengthen growth.

Source: businessweek.com

Downgrading our politics; S&P's credit rating cut: Decisions to downgrade Americas credit rating is momentous, but not, I suspect, for the reasons most people will cite. Many worried that interest rates would skyrocket and the markets sell off.

Source: lexisnexis.com

Social media risks surveyed: Published findings of the 2011 Social Media Protection Flash Poll examined how organizations protect themselves from negative consequences of using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other online forums.

Source: continuitycentral.com

Future energy risks are ‘top threat’ to UK organizations: Energy risk – particularly in terms of security of supply and supply costs - has been identified as the top threat that major business energy users are facing.

Source: continuitycentral.com

Governance & Compliance

Creating a Culture of Compliance: "Tone at the top" is an overused phrase, but if companies want to mitigate fraud senior leaders need to speak up forcefully.

Source: cfo.com

Five Governance Problems That Contributed to the U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade:  The recent decision to downgrade credit rating of U.S. government debt from AAA to AA+ resulted not from lack of money, but poor governance performance by federal officials.

Source: brookings.edu

ASIC boss takes action on market transparency: ASIC's announcements over the past few days are part of a move to increase disclosure and transparency in the market.

Source: smh.com.au

Governance crucial to determining success of carbon package: In its initial response to the government’s carbon package announcement, the Institute stated that the success of the carbon package depends on a robust governance framework.

Source: charteredaccountants.com.au

Financial Services

ASIC releases new advertising guidelines: ASIC released a consultation paper and draft regulatory guide containing best practice guidance for the advertising of financial products and financial advice.

Source: asic.gov.au

Corporate Governance and Banks: What Have We Learned from the Financial Crisis?: How did the governance structure of banks perform during the financial crisis?

Source: harvard.edu

Asian insurers strengthening risk mitigation techniques : IDC: In order to comply with higher prudential standards insurers are channelling more resources into risk management and mitigation technologies for cost management over the next one year, according to the latest survey.

Source: cbronline.com

Catastrophes Not Enough To Stiffen Market: The spate of catastrophic loss events witnessed in the first half of 2011 have battered insurers and reinsurers, but have not substantially altered market dynamics.

Source: insurancenetworking.com

Global Financial Services Risk Management Survey: In the first quarter of 2011, a global publication called the Global Risk Management Survey, 7th Ed was issued.

Source: deloitte.com

Can we help?            

If you have any risk management, governance, internal audit or business continuity matters you would like to discuss, contact InConsult on 02 9241 1344 or email your query to info@inconsult.com.au

GRC Technology

GuardianERM.net latest version  highlights:

  • New risk profiler

  • View risk heat maps by risk category and new enhanced risk comparisons

  • New ‘Quick Add’ function to speed up risk workshops

  • Enhancements to audit module including alternate work paper format and allow viewing of all control checklists.

GuardianERM.net is a web-based Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) system that allows people across an organisation to better collaborate, streamline processes and integrate risk, control, audit and incident data to manage risk and improve resilience. It supports best practice standards including AS/NZS ISO 31000, AS 8000, AS 3806, HB 292, ISO 9000.   If you would like to find out how guardian can help you better sustain your risk management framework, click here or contact InConsult to arrange a demonstration or trial.

Upcoming Training

16 September 2011

GIPA in Practice (half-day) The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA) has come into effect. The new Act will have a significant impact on the way in which NSW Government agencies provide public access to government informationmore

Fraud Risk

Five Ways to Curb Fraud:  CFO interviewed more than a dozen experts and examined several notable legal cases and compliance failures to determine the five most effective things finance executives can do to prevent risky or illegal activities.

Source: cfo.com

Key fraud syndicate members arrested:  Five 'key members' of an international fraud syndicate have been charged following investigations into EFTPOS card skimming, police say.

Source: skynews.com.au

Fraud Management Health Check

No organisation can assume that its safeguards against fraud are adequate…you need to know the gaps. Our Fraud Management Health Check is a structured, independent review of your fraud management framework to help provide you peace of mind. If you would like to find out more click here

Business Continuity and Resilience

Business continuity management lessons from English public disorder incidents: The government has started the process of rebuilding public confidence, whilst those directly affected have begun to rebuild their lives.

Source: continuitycentral.com

Internal Audit

Spending watchdog fails its own tests despite pledges: EVEN the federal Finance Department fails to follow the purchasing guidelines it oversees, despite Labor's bid to rebuild its financial management credentials in the wake of the pink batts and school halls controversies.

Source: theaustralian.com.au

Survey Shows Opportunity for Internal Auditors to Align with CEO Focus on Strategic Growth: Recently announced results of an annual global survey on the State of the Internal Audit Profession, found that as companies focus on strategic growth, internal auditors have the opportunity to elevate their roles by aligning their goals with new company priorities.

Source: finchannel.com

Internal audit call to dodge FoI: The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has called for its PS members’ work to be exempt from Freedom of Information laws because the threat of disclosure of audit findings could compromise audits of governance and risk management.

Source: psnews.com.au

Government

Inquiry finds Defence contract 'sloppy' but no fraud:  A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry has found no evidence of fraud or insider dealing in the awarding of contracts to transport Australian troops to and from the Middle East.

Source: news.com.au

Australian department fails to meet own procurement compliance rules:  The Australian government’s spending watchdog has been criticised for not following its own purchasing compliance rules over a nine-month period.

Source: supplymanagement.com

Amalgamation raised its head at Destination 2036:  During a two-day conference on the future of local government in NSW, held in Dubbo, general managers and mayors of the 152 councils called for changes to be made to the sector.

Source: governmentnews.com.au

Financial Management

Most Likely to Commit Fraud: Finance Executives:  A lot of bad apples work for the corporate finance department, but the number is shrinking, says a new study.

Source: cfo.com

Occ Health, Safety & Environment

‘Harmonisation’ occupational health and safety (OH&S) laws:   As part of the national ‘OHS harmonisation’ initiative, the Commonwealth and each State and Territory have agreed to amend their OHS legislation so that each is consistent with the national Model Work Health Safety legislation.

Source: legalbusinessonline.com

Safety Institute of Australia Work Health and Safety Legislation 2012: What it means in practice:  The issues discussed here include; the overview of the progress of reforms, practical implications of Primary duty of care, practical implication of Horizontal consultation and practical implications of an officer’s due diligence obligation.

Source: sia.org.au

Deputies sacked before Pike River blast:   The Government made public a review of the Department of Labour's interactions with Pike River, which includes a detailed, independent assessment of four incidents at the mine. One concerned ongoing ventilation problems underground.

Source: nzherald.co.nz

The Risks of Retaliation:   As if companies weren’t facing enough risks these days, there’s a new one to add to the list: retaliation claims.

Source: cfo.com

 

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