Balance cost against value

FERMA president Marie-Gemma Dequae stressed the need to balance the cost of implementing global enterprise risk management and possible ISO certification requirements against the benefits.

In her Forum opening remarks yesterday, she said that it was important that the costs of a global ERM system did not outweigh the added value it provided. Dequa also stated that the ISO guidelines for risk management are on the table and a framework on guidelines for implementation is under construction. ‘The draft looks acceptable but how will it be used in the future?’ she asked. Dequae was concerned that the guidelines would become a standard requiring certification which could cause problems for risk managers. ‘We have to be careful to allocate the internal and external resources that we need to implement this standard which might have a negative impact on our competitiveness if there are not commensurate benefits,’ she warned.