The Southampton Business School’s Centre for Risk Research has produced new guidance for directors and others who direct and oversee risk management in organizations—Directing Risk Management in Organizations.

Two sets of evaluation criteria are at the core of the guidance, giving users a tool to rapidly evaluate: 1) the scope of all risk management development work in an organization and 2) the approach taken by each initiative.

The guidance envisages a potentially wide range of worthwhile initiatives. This includes initiatives such as changes to planning and control processes, decision-support models, and information systems, many of which involve professional accountants.

The Centre for Risk Research produced this guide and its illustrated examples to help increase the effectiveness of oversight and encourage some favorable trends in risk management toward a broader perspective and more integral methods.

For example, the guide defines the scope as “all important decisions in organizations, not just decisions on actions seen as responding to individual risk concerns.” The scope criteria help identify important areas for managing risk that have been overlooked. The guide also aims to identify already existing important risk management activities that are not recognized as such, even though they make a huge contribution to the overall management of risk.

The Centre’s director, Professor Johnnie Johnson, welcomes feedback via email (jej@soton.ac.uk) or via the discussion section below.