Safeguarding your futureMassive government interventions in the financial sector may have prevented even more calamity, but great uncertainty still lies ahead. So it’s imperative that you form a strategic view of all the risks you now face. This means defining what your key risks are, weighting their probability and impact on business drivers – and developing your thinking on actions to take. Ernst & Young can support you in this. We can undertake risk assessments that go beyond financial and regulatory risk to consider the wider environment in which you operate. We can conduct scenario planning for your key risks to make sure your risk management processes are linked to the actual risks that your business faces. And we can help you put in place effective monitoring and control processes that give you earlier warnings, and enable you to respond quickly and effectively. This rigorous and disciplined approach to risk management helps you safeguard the future of your business – and supports you in facing the challenges of the recession. | The Performance CFO: Excellence in an exceptional climate On October 2, 2009, The Economist held a one-day event, entitled The Performance CFO: Excellence in an exceptional climate  1.4Mb. With over ten sessions featuring high-level speakers and experts from a range of industries, the attendees considered the changing role of the chief financial officer and examined the outlook for the finance function in an uncertain environment. The articles in this paper highlight the themes and summarises these discussions with practical and realistic advice from top CFOs and leading experts. Finance performance improvement starts with framework Amid signs of economic recovery, we suggest in The future of finance 252K that CFOs establish and implement a holistic framework that identifies weaknesses and potential improvements, and which helps enable Finance to be more effective, lower costs and help deliver more value to the bottom line. Lessons from change Since January 2009, we have been running our Opportunities in adversity programme to help businesses across the globe act decisively in the economic downturn. Since its launch, we have held some 40,000 meetings with senior executives. We asked them how the downturn was affecting their business, then gathered those insights into Lessons from change. Learn which eight strategic actions companies should focus on now. The top 10 business risks for 2009 What challenges are likely to affect your company in 2009 and beyond? The credit crunch aftershocks and the deepening global recession rank as the most important business risks for 2009, displacing regulation and compliance from the top spot. Green initiatives, competition from new entrants, human capital issues, and reputational risk all rose in The 2009 Ernst & Young business risk report — the top 10 risks for global business (pdf, 1.9mb). Manage risk in the current climate This issue of BoardMatters Quarterly, "Managing risk in the current climate" (pdf, 610kb), is dedicated to helping audit committees identify, prepare for and protect against the key risks their companies may face during these strenuous times. |
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