How to Assess Risk (2024)

In operations, financial reporting and compliance, risks need to be identified and analyzed. Assessing risk enables you better achieve your group's goals by helping you determine how pitfalls should be managed.

Who is Responsible?

Managers must determine the level of operations, financial and compliance risk they are willing to assume.Assessing riskenables managers toproactively reduce unwanted surprises.

How to Identify Risk

A risk is anything that could jeopardize the achievement of an objective. It's important that risksbe comprehensively identified for each objectiveat the department level and at the activity or process level. Both external and internal risk factors must be considered.Usually, several risks can be identified for each objective.

To identify risks, consider:

  • What could go wrong?
  • How could we fail?
  • What must go right for us to succeed?
  • Where are we vulnerable?
  • Which assets do we need to protect?
  • Do we have liquid assets or assets with alternative uses?
  • How could someone steal from the department?
  • How could someone disrupt our operations?
  • How do we know whether we are achieving our objectives?
  • On what information do we most rely?
  • On what do we spend the most money?
  • How do we bill and collect our revenue?
  • Which decisions require the most judgment?
  • Which activities are most complex?
  • Which activities are regulated?
  • What is our greatest legal exposure?

High-Risk Transactions

These are transactions that deserve athoughtful risk review. Here are some examples:

  • Assets with alternative uses
  • Cash receipts
  • Confidential information
  • Consultant payments and other payments for services
  • Equipment
  • Equipment delivered directly to department
  • Equipment moved off location
  • Grants (meeting terms, not overspending)
  • Intellectual property
  • Payments to non-vendors
  • Payroll (rates, changes, terminations)
  • Petty cash
  • Purchase exemptions (Sole Source)
  • Scholarships
  • Software licensing issues
  • Travel expenditures

Risk Analysis

After risks have been identified,an analysis should be performed to set priorities:

  1. Assess the likelihood (or frequency) of the risk occurring.

  2. Estimate the potential impact if the risk were to occur. Consider both quantitative and qualitative costs.

  3. Determine how the risk should be managed; decide what actions are necessary.

Prioritizing helps departments focus their attention on managing significant risks such asrisks with reasonable likelihoods of occurrence and large potential impacts.

Risk Assessment Tips

  • Make sure the department has a mission statement and written goals and objectives.
  • Assess risks at the departmental level.
  • Assess risks at the activity (or process) level.
  • Complete a Business Controls Worksheetfor each significant activity (or process) in the department; prioritize those activities (or processes) that are most critical to the success of the department and those activities (or processes) that could be improved the most.
  • Make sure that all risks identified at the department level are addressed on the BusinessControls Worksheet.
How to Assess Risk (2024)

FAQs

How to Assess Risk? ›

The four common risk assessment tools are: risk matrix, decision tree, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and bowtie model.

What are the 4 ways to assess risk? ›

The four common risk assessment tools are: risk matrix, decision tree, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and bowtie model.

What are the 5 main steps of risk assessment? ›

2. Steps needed to manage risk
  • Identify hazards.
  • Assess the risks.
  • Control the risks.
  • Record your findings.
  • Review the controls.
Mar 28, 2024

How do we do risk assessment? ›

These Five steps to risk assessment can be followed to ensure that your risk assessment is carried out correctly:
  1. Identify the hazards.
  2. Decide who might be harmed and how.
  3. Evaluate the risks and decide on control measures.
  4. Record your findings and implement them.
  5. Review your assessment and update if necessary.

What are the 5 ways to identify risk? ›

Here are seven of my favorite risk identification techniques:
  • Interviews. Choose key stakeholders, plan the interviews, formulate specific questions, and document the outcomes.
  • Brainstorming. ...
  • Checklists. ...
  • Assumption Analysis. ...
  • Cause and Effect Diagrams. ...
  • Nominal Group Technique (NGT). ...
  • Affinity Diagram.

How do you evaluate risk? ›

Risk Analysis
  1. Assess the likelihood (or frequency) of the risk occurring.
  2. Estimate the potential impact if the risk were to occur. Consider both quantitative and qualitative costs.
  3. Determine how the risk should be managed; decide what actions are necessary.

What are the five 5 measures of risk? ›

The five measures include alpha, beta, R-squared, standard deviation, and the Sharpe ratio. Risk measures can be used individually or together to perform a risk assessment.

How do you do a simple risk assessment? ›

Step 1: Identify the hazards/risky activities; Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how; Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions; Step 4: Record your findings in a Risk Assessment and management plan, and implement them; Step 5: Review your assessment and update if necessary.

What is an example of a risk assessment? ›

A manager is carrying out a risk assessment among drillers in an underground gold mine. The drillers use pneumatic jackhammers. After some years in this mine several of the drillers developed lung problems, and the owner realizes that safety and health practices need to be improved in this regard.

How to do a risk assessment for dummies? ›

The risk assessment process is simple.
  1. identify what could go wrong.
  2. identify who might be affected and how they might be harmed.
  3. identify controls that are needed to stop it going wrong.
  4. show that any remaining risk after all reasonable controls are in place is low enough to be acceptable.

What are the 5 key points to assess risk in the workplace? ›

  • The Health and Safety Executive's Five steps to risk assessment.
  • Step 1: Identify the hazards.
  • Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how.
  • Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
  • Step 4: Record your findings and implement them.
  • Step 5: Review your risk assessment and update if. necessary.

What are the four basic ways to handle a risk? ›

There are four primary ways to handle risk in the professional world, no matter the industry, which include:
  • Avoid risk.
  • Reduce or mitigate risk.
  • Transfer risk.
  • Accept risk.

What are the 4 elements of risk assessment? ›

While many individuals are involved in the process and many factors come into play, performing an effective risk assessment comes down to four core elements: risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk communication.

What is the step 4 risk assessment? ›

Welcome to the forth step of our risk assessment series – Record your findings… So far you have identified any hazards, determined who may be harmed, evaluated the risk and put in place control measures.

What are the 4 pillars of risk assessment? ›

In this article, we will explore the four pillars of enterprise risk management that form the foundation of an effective risk management system.
  • The four pillars of ERM. ...
  • Understanding the risks faced by the company. ...
  • Gathering information and assessing risks. ...
  • Creating a risk profile. ...
  • Developing a response to potential risks.

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