RISK IN FOCUS 2023

Publié le

10/2022

In 2022, organisations were hit by a perfect storm of high-impact, interlocking risks that have thrown businesses into a permanent state of crisis. Following hard on the heels of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has intensified supply chain failures, caused a spike in energy prices and fuelled inflation.

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Now a state of crisis is the new normality.Climate-related natural disasters, looming recession, an accelerating cost of living catastrophe in Europe, food shortages, employee welfare and skills deficits, and a rapidly industrialising cyberattack landscape are overlaid by intensifying geopolitical tensions and the very real threat of financial liquidity and solvency risks for businesses.This has forced many organisations not just to rewrite their risk registers, but to tear up outdated risk taxonomies that favour old-style siloed thinking. Sudden, systemic organisation-wide risks with contagious, unpredictable ramifications through out the enterprise are no longer seen as BlackSwan events - but as interlocking elements of a continuous storm.

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Internal auditors need to get a rapid grip on this situation and support their organisations to navigate more risky, uncertain and volatile times ahead. Instead of thinking about what individual risks might arise over the next year or two, chief audit executives need to be thinking over the coming decade. And be thinking big. How would we survive an overnight, permanent supply chain break with China?How would we cope if inflation hit 25%and stayed there, as it did in the 1970s?Are we prepared for the sudden, permanent increase in temperatures in every area in which we operate?Are we in a position to understand and help our clients and staff with the stresses and strains they face over the coming months and years?

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