Enterprise Risk Management

Key subject details

Subject	Enterprise Risk Management
Description	This subject allows students to develop an enhanced knowledge of enterprise risk management practices to assist the board, or other governing body, to determine its strategic responsibility for risk taking, how different risks operate within the context of existing enterprise management frameworks, formulate the organisation’s attitude and policy to risk appetite, tolerance for key individual risks, and ensure clear lines of accountability.
Year of delivery	2024
Award	Graduate Diploma of Applied Corporate Governance and Risk Management
Chartered Governance Institute Qualifying Program	Chartered Governance Professional
Core/Elective	Core
Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) level	8
Subject credit points	10
Total course credit points	60
Pre-requisites	None
Assumed knowledge	Risk and Compliance Non-award students who enrol in Enterprise Risk Management without first completing Risk and Compliance should ensure they have appropriate work experience in risk management or underlying knowledge in the content areas covered in both these subjects.
Mode of study	Online
Part-time/Full-time	Part-time over one semester
Teaching weeks	12
Student workload	164 hours comprising: two (2) time-tabled hours per taught week ten (10) personal study hours per taught week twenty (20) personal study hours for exam preparation
Assessment task (Weighting)	Presentation (20%) Assignment (30%) Examination (50%)
Key contacts	Further information to assist you in your studies at Governance Institute can be requested from: education@governanceinstitute.com.au.

Subject aims

This subject has been designed to:

give students a solid understanding of ERM and its relevance to corporate governance, financial management, project management and other aspects of corporate strategy
provide a sense of how global events and trends affect enterprise risk management and sharpen the focus of regulators, communities and stakeholders on risk management as an aspect of good governance and corporate value
summarise the new and emerging sources of risk, in areas such as social media and corporate reputation, changing regulatory and social responsibility environment, critical data and information management, global volatility and technological change
provide a detailed understanding of the tools and methods used to effectively manage risk, such as risk identification, quantification, reporting and analysis, and how these methods enable and support prudent risk-taking and risk-informed decision making
provide a thorough understanding of how risk management can be applied in a range of contexts, using the Australian Standard AS ISO 31000:2018 Risk management — Guidelines as a set of guiding principles for ERM, along with other applicable Standards and guidelines.

Throughout this subject, reference is made to the Australian Standard on risk management, AS ISO 31000:2018 Risk management — Guidelines. AS ISO 31000:2018 was issued by Standards Australia and is identical to the international Standard ISO 31000:2018 Risk management — Guidelines and provides generic guidelines for the design, implementation and maintenance of risk management processes throughout an organisation.

Subject learning outcomes

Understand and apply the foundations, concepts and principles of enterprise risk management (ERM) and its connection to technical or discipline-specific risk management
Analyse and explain the relevance of ERM to corporate governance, strategic planning and corporate social responsibility
Recognise how organisational culture enables and supports ERM and critically apply methods for developing, enhancing and sustaining a mature risk culture
Critically appraise and report to stakeholders on the organisation’s risk exposure and risk mitigation in the context of its strategic direction, reputation and long-term viability

Indicative content

The subject is divided into the following 12 modules:

Module 1 — Enterprise risk — Strategy, performance and objectives

The nature of risk
Risk, strategy, performance and objectives
Risk, governance and assurance
Risk at the enterprise level
ERM standards and guidelines

Module 2 — Risk types and categories

Opportunity and adversity risk
Risk hierarchy
Conventional risk categories

Module 3 — Risk policy and leadership

Risk assurance
The board and management
Risk appetite and tolerance
Risk policy and oversight
Risk accountability

Module 4 — Risk disciplines and perspectives

Risk, innovation and growth
Risk and harm avoidance
High reliability organisations
Emerging risk perspectives
Risk velocity

Module 5 — Resilience management

Emerging risk
Business continuity
Case studies

Module 6 — ERM in practice

A portfolio view of risk
Assurance
ERM and business decision-making

Module 7 — ERM, governance and reputation

ERM and governance
ERM and compliance
Reputation – The ultimate risk impact?

Module 8 — Social and organisational context

Risk and organisational culture
Decision-making
Risk culture
Psychology of risk-taking

Module 9 — Reporting and documentation

Risk reporting
Risk registers
Risk heat maps and profiles
Risk dashboards
ERM reporting and documentation in practice

Module 10 — Complexity, change and organisational maturity

ERM and rapid change
Complexity and ERM
Organisational maturity and risk maturity models

Module 11 — The benefits of ERM

The business case for ERM
Case studies in ERM
Evaluating the benefits of ERM
ERM and other initiatives

Module 12 — Key themes and revision

ERM purpose and context
ERM in practice
The future of ERM
Examination preparation and technique

Required resource

Students are required to access a full copy of the Australian Standard AS ISO 31000:2018 Risk management — Guidelines.