IIA report looks at 2021 risk landscape; identifies business continuity gap between board and C-suite
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 03 November 2020 09:33
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has published ‘OnRisk: A Guide to Understanding, Aligning, and Optimizing Risk 2021’ which examines the views of those who most directly involved in risk management – boards, executive management, and internal audit.
A combination of quantitative and qualitative research provided a robust look at 11 top risks facing organizations.
Key highlights include:
- 87 percent of board members ranked business continuity and crisis management as highly or extremely relevant. However, far fewer members (63 percent) of the C-suite identified it similarly.
- COVID-19's existential threat to organizations combined with the extreme measures taken to cope with the virus has created new cyber vulnerabilities. For example, the newly ubiquitous work-from-home environment introduced the monumental task of enforcing cyber-safety protocols for entire offsite workforces. The perceived relevance and urgency of cyber-related risks was heightened further by changes to operations, mitigating the vulnerabilities of popular communications software, managing customer and vendor relationships strictly online, and internal audit's inability to perform on-site visits.
- Board and C-suites respondents rated their level of personal knowledge lowest when it came to cyber security. That may reflect continued uncertainty about a risk that is constantly evolving.
- All respondents rated disruptive innovation and talent management as among the most relevant risks. Yet, C-suite respondents ranked their personal knowledge and the organization's capabilities related to those risks as among the lowest.