CEOs are intending to upgrade their enterprise-wide risk management capability according to thePwC 13th Annual Global CEO Survey.

The study involved a survey of 2,000 executives across 50 countries.

Risk is not only moving up the corporate agenda in response to the financial crisis, but is seen as something that needs to be embraced by the organisation as a whole. That one in five say their board of directors is ‘significantly more engaged’ in assessing strategic risk indicates that for many, approaches to risk are moving beyond controls-based risk management to corporate strategy and financial management.

The higher level of involvement by directors is not only taking place in the financial sector, where risk standards are actively changing, but across all sectors. Attention is being focussed on both internal and external factors. Of those CEOs who said they plan some change or significant change to their approach to managing risk – and 89% of those interviewed are – slightly more said they plan to integrate risk management capabilities into business units. They are assigning risk functions to business heads, a process that aligns risk with strategic business planning. ‘We learned that we must further strengthen our internal controls and risk management capabilities.

The financial crisis has made it clear that all enterprises must be better prepared against future risks’, said Huang Tianwen of Sinosteel Corporation.