C Suite Guidance

Boards - taking the lead on risk

The Board’s role centres on five focus areas, with governance and effective risk management at the core. It is responsible for defining acceptable risk levels for strategic goals and maintaining strong risk management and control systems, as highlighted in the 2024 UK Corporate Governance Code.

Boardroom accountability

Board oversight of risk involves setting strategic risk parameters, fostering an organisation-wide risk perspective, promoting control, ensuring monitoring routines, and fulfilling reporting requirements. Effective risk management requires alignment between top-down (strategic) and bottom-up (operational) approaches, supported by clear structures and reporting lines.

• Corporate Governance Reviews: Undertake a  governance ‘health-check’ to establish where and how risk management, internal control and assurance activities fit into the overall governance cycle .
• Boards and Risk Management: Evaluate the Board's risk management oversight by examining risk policies, defining risk appetite, observing board activities, reviewing risk reporting, facilitating workshops, and providing risk training and development programs.(see the example Risk Framework opposite).
• Assurance Mapping: The approach to risk should drive the assurance activities that are required by the Board and the  organisation – have we covered the highest risk areas?; who gives the Board assurance?: have we got access to the best resources?

• Directors who understand their risk roles and responsibilities
• Ability to meet more stringent regulatory and governance demands
• Better boardroom engagement in a risk-based agenda
• A more comprehensive and aligned end-to-end process
• Access to the latest thinking at board-level