Turning risk intelligence into strategic advantage

Mark Beasley, CPA, Ph.D., director of the ERM Initiative at North Carolina State University, joined the Journal of Accountancy podcast to discuss the results of an annual survey and report published in collaboration with the AICPA and CIMA.

The main news from the survey, now in its 17th year: Risks continue to grow in magnitude and complexity, but organizations' risk management response isn't always keeping pace.

Organizations have awareness of risks, but many struggle to connect enterprise risk management (ERM) with strategy and decision-making. This episode explores what's holding risk management back, why scenario planning matters, and how better risk intelligence can become a strategic advantage.

Resource link: The State of Risk Oversight report

What you'll learn from this episode:

• The job roles of survey respondents, whose answers form the basis of the annual report.
• Why many organizations still struggle to connect ERM to strategy and decision-making.
• How geopolitical uncertainty, AI, and the accelerating pace of change are complicating the risk environment.
• The "surprise factor" to Beasley related to the survey results.
• His opinion on what keeps organizations from adopting more robust approaches such as scenario planning.
• How risk intelligence can help leaders anticipate emerging threats and create strategic advantage.