Any threat to the achievement of business strategies and objectives is a business risk. While risk can be reduced through controls, it cannot be completely eliminated. However, with an effective risk assessment process in place, and controls that make economic sense in relation to risks, management can target acceptable ranges of exposure to loss. With the benefit of hindsight, critics often believe that major risks and their consequences should have been anticipated, better managed, or avoided altogether.
Risk is the mirror image of opportunity.
High-opportunity endeavors rarely come without risk. Our generic risk framework is useful for tailoring an effective risk framework to a particular industry and enterprise. Management and boards of directors excel at measuring and monitoring progress toward achieving business objectives. But bad things can and do happen to good organizations. It is important to continually assess risks, because they change and are not necessarily understood until too late.