Corporate Risk Appetite: Ensuring Board and Senior Management Accountability for Risk

ICMA Centre Discussion Papers: 2011 Series

20 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2011

Date Written: November 17, 2011

Abstract

This paper examines various concepts related to the topic of corporate risk appetite. It emphasises the need for consistency of definitions and coherence of terminology. Corporate risk appetite articulation is discussed as a corollary to strategy formulation and as an aid to corporate governance. The paper highlights the challenges that financial firms’ boards have faced in expressing their risk appetite and in setting the approach to risk at board-level. The paper further stresses the need to assess risk holistically in risk appetite discussions. It introduces the Govindarajan-Andenæs model as a process template for systematically identifying and deploying risk appetite. The objective is to allow the risk appetite statement to be a practical tool that aids transparency in both risk-taking by firms and in the evaluation of their risk-based performance on an ongoing basis.

Keywords: risk, risk appetite, governance, corporate governance, boards, accountability

JEL Classification: G30, G20, L20, M20

Suggested Citation

Govindarajan, Deepa, Corporate Risk Appetite: Ensuring Board and Senior Management Accountability for Risk (November 17, 2011). ICMA Centre Discussion Papers: 2011 Series, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1962126 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1962126

Deepa Govindarajan (Contact Author)

ICMA Centre ( email )

Whiteknights Park
P.O. Box 242
Reading RG6 6BA
United Kingdom

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