Risk and Management Accounting

This CIMA research report builds on a pilot study undertaken by the authors. A framework for risk management was developed as a result of the research. This research report describes the results of a major survey-based research study entitled ‘Risk and Management Accounting: The development of best practice guidelines for enterprise-wide internal control procedures to identify and manage risk; the contribution of and the consequences for management accountants’.

Risk has traditionally been defined in terms of the possibility of danger, loss, injury or other adverse consequences. In accounting and finance, risk has traditionally been considered in terms of decision trees, probability distributions, cost-volume-profit analysis, discounted cash flow, capital assets pricing models and hedging techniques, etc. Risk management is, however, a much wider process by which organisations methodically address the risks attaching to their activities in pursuit of organisational objectives and actoss the portfolio of all their activities. Effective risk management involves risk assessment, risk evaluation, risk treatment, and risk reporting.

This book presents the findings from two research projects on risk. These research projects were funded by grants provided by CIMA. The first grant was for a pilot study comprising four mini-case studies. The major focus in that study was on how risk impacted upon budgeting. The second grant was for a comprehensive survey and analysis of risk management in organisations and, in particular, how risk management impacted on both internal controls and on the role of the management accountant. Following the statistical analysis of the survey, interivews were conducted with survey respondents and risk management professionals in order to help explain the findings. This book therefore provides the results of these three phases of the authors' research.

The book contains:
A review of the practitioner and academic literature as it affects governance, risk management and management accounting:
*Four explanatory case studies
*A comprehensive description of the survey design and results
*Excerpts from the interview data in relation to the survey results
*A summary of the research findings
*Implications for best practice

This book is an important resource for both academics and practitioners reflecting current developments in risk management and management accounting.