Enterprise risk management (ERM) implementation: some empirical evidence from large Australian companies

According to Economist Intelligence Unit (Economist Intelligence Unit Limited and SAS, 2008), risk management failure is one of the major triggers of the recent global financial crisis. Enterprise risk management (ERM), an organisation wide process which identifies potential adverse events and provides strategies to manage risks, has been suggested as an approach to combat the volume and complexities of the risks faced by today's organisations (see, for example, Beasley et al., 2009). Despite of the recent emphasis given to risk management by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), there is scant empirical evidence on ERM implementation among the Australian listed companies. This study aims to provide some evidence on the extent of ERM implementation among the Top 300 companies listed on ASX. Questionnaires were used to collect data for this study. The outcomes of the study show that the majority of the firms involved in the survey not only extensively implement ERM but also extensively embed ERM into their corporate strategic processes. Further, they have also implemented the system for more than five years. Potential limitation of these findings are acknowledged.