Board members and C-suite executives across industries perceive the global business environment in 2015 as somewhat less risky than in the past two years. Yet, in “Executive Perspectives on Top Risks for 2015,” consulting firm Protiviti and the Enterprise Risk Management Initiative at the North Carolina State University Poole College of Management found that organizations are actually more likely to invest additional resources for risk management.
Internal challenges like succession, attracting and retaining talent, regulation, and cybersecurity are drawing the most attention, according to the report. “Our survey findings indicate that operational risk issues are keeping many senior executives up at night,” said Mark Beasley, Deloitte Professor of Enterprise Risk Management and NC State ERM Initiative director.
The survey also identified differing perceptions of the current risk environment between boards of directors and members of the executive team. CEOs and boards of directors reported more optimism about risk issues, while CFOs and chief audit executives perceived a more risky business environment.