Whatever an organisation’s objectives there is a whole range of risks to them being achieved. Board members and senior managers need to understand what those risks are, to have controls in place to manage them and to have assurance that those controls are working effectively in practice.
How we can help
We can help you to ensure that your risk and assurance framework is working to manage the risks you face, so you can deliver your objectives and so that the Board, which is ultimately responsible for managing risk, and senior managers have assurance that it is operating effectively.
Risk strategy and appetite
Organisations need an overall approach to risk management and assurance. We can help you to develop your risk strategy including thinking about what the Board’s risk appetite is in areas ranging from health and safety and financial viability to developing new homes and involvement in commercial activities. We can also help you to consider how to implement your risk and assurance strategy.
Risk identification and risk mapping
Effective risk management requires the identification, assessment and prioritisation of the risks that could prevent you from achieving your objectives. We can help you, including through one or more interactive workshops with Board and committee members and officers if that is your preferred approach, to identify the key risks, measure them, identify the necessary controls and prioritise improvements where necessary.
Assurance mapping
Whilst identifying and measuring risks and identifying the controls to manage those risks is crucial, for Board members and senior management it does not, in itself, provide the assurance they need that risk management arrangements are working as they are intended to. We can work with you to identify potential sources of assurance and to map them against particular risks and controls, including how you can get the maximum value from internal audit and other sources of external assurance. We can also act as one of those external sources of assurance, by reviewing the effectiveness of the risk management framework in practice.
Stress testing
It is a requirement of the Regulator of Social Housing’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard that registered providers should stress test their plans for identified risks and combinations of risks, and have mitigation strategies in place to cope when risks and combinations of risks materialise. But putting stress testing in place won’t just help you to satisfy the Regulator, it will enable you to manage your risks more effectively and ensure that you remain financially sound when those risks materialise. We can assist you, again through one or more interactive workshops with Board, committee members and officers if that is your preferred approach, with stress testing your financial forecasts, helping you to identify sensible scenarios to model and considering potential mitigations in the context of the different risks which could materialise.
Assets and liabilities registers
It is also a requirement of the Regulator’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard that registered providers should maintain assets and liabilities registers. Again, as with stress testing, maintaining assets and liabilities registers won’t just help you to satisfy the Regulator, it will support you in managing the business including when you need to raise finance or make decisions about asset disposals. We can help you by considering what you need to include in assets and liabilities registers, reviewing what you already have in place and advising you on how you can maximise the value of your registers in managing your business.