The Current State of Board Risk Oversight

Recently, the importance of board risk oversight has become more evident in the wake of a historic global financial crisis, which disclosed perceived risk management weaknesses across financial services and other organizations worldwide. As a result, many boards of directors are taking a fresh look at the qualifications of their members and how they operate to better understand the enterprise’s risk and how those risks are being managed.

To develop deeper knowledge of the risk oversight process, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) commissioned Protiviti to conduct a survey regarding the risk oversight responsibilities of the board of directors and how those responsibilities are being performed. This issue of The Bulletin highlights the findings and recommendations of that survey.