Key considerations for enhanced risk reporting

Your organisation’s risk reporting should support the board of directors to meet business objectives and manage risks efficiently and effectively. But just as organisations change, so do the risks they face.

While your risk reporting processes should be able to account for such developments, welcoming new board members can provide a useful opportunity for re-examination.

At a recent private meeting of our network of risk leaders, members shared top tips for improving risk reporting.

The highlights are below, while members can also access the full meeting write-up – plus other related tools and templates for handling risk reporting – on our Intelligence platform.

1) Consider your customer

Before making any changes to your current reporting systems and processes, try to gather up-to-date information about the concerns of board members – both individually and as a group. Are there any preferences as to how and when this information is presented?

Disseminating a reporting schedule can help address concerns and promote engagement from board members so they can prepare for upcoming reports.

Remember that the board is a group of individuals with different interests and concerns. The group is also likely to change over time. So, while it is important to maintain consistency of output, you also need to build some manoeuvre room into your reports to capture any change of focus in the future.

2) Keep it consistent, clear and concise

Many risk teams find that keeping style and format consistent for risk reports helps board members read and understand the information more efficiently.

There are also tools that you can use to help directors quickly understand the main points of the risk report. For example, many firms use dashboards containing charts and graphs to illustrate risk levels in an accessible way.

3) Delving deeper

Be ready to provide more detail once the initial report has been presented to the board. This kind of request is a good sign of your board’s risk maturity and level of engagement with risk reporting.

While requests for more detail can be as simple as board members asking on-the-spot questions, some directors could request a deeper dive.

Aside from providing more detail on a specific risk issue, a deep dive can also help directors to understand how different risks intersect. This provides a more holistic view of the organisation’s risk exposure.

Are you an in-house risk manager who could benefit from collaborating with a global network of risk leaders? Find out more about what's happening in the Risk Leadership Network here.