The need to understand risks and opportunities is inescapable when striving to grow any business. Hence a business’s ability to prosper in the face of risk is a prime indicator of its ability to compete. However the speed of change in markets, technology and communication combined with the diverse sources of risk, means that for risk management to be effective, it has to be methodical and broad in its approach. Additionally it has to be ingrained in the business psyche, the ‘normal way of doing things’.

This books builds from the bottom up to provide a readily understood methodical approach to risk management, while at the same time describing the diverse sources of risk, to encourage a broad approach. To convey the context of enterprise risk management, the commissioning process when engaging consultants, a common approach to implementation and the sources of risk, the book is divided into five parts.

* Part 1 describes the catalysts for and developments in corporate governance, internal control and risk management.
* Part 2 examines the procurement of risk management services by a client together with the steps a consultant engages in, in terms of interviewing the client prior to an assignment and the preparation of a proposal, to secure a new commission.
* Part 3 describes the risk management process being composed of six stages. The inputs, outputs, constraints and enablers of each stage are described to aid implementation.
* Part 4 describes what are termed management applications, those sources of risk that to a large extent are under the control of any individual business.
* Part 5 describes the external influences on a business which present sources of risk which in the main are beyond the control of any one business