During the current crisis we have witnessed the fall of several companies of high repute. There are many reasons for their failures. There is however a common factor that determined the success. How well the board of directors dealt with Risk management.

The term “risk management” is now on top of the agenda and frequently discussed in boardrooms across the world. Several reports however show that when addressing risk management the stakeholders’ i.e. individual directors and senior executives often have contradictory notions of what Risk Management entails.

Many talk about enterprise risk management when no such system exists in the company. We have seen risk assessment that is presented to the board for approval when these are simply a list of unapprised top risks.

The issues related to the agreement between risk tolerances and risk appetite has not been dealt with.

At the Copenhagen Compliance Conference more or less all presentations address the importance of prudent Risk management is addressed in one form or another. Attend the conference and understand the difference between risk management and enterprise risk management. How they differ and what they have in common. With the right processes in place the board and management can identify, analyze, and manage critical risks and management can table the relevant information on Risk Management to the board for discussion and approval.