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The purpose of this research was first to determine the competencies mandatory of risk managers, and second, to consider the implications of such competencies in determining modules appropriate for inclusion in any prospective undergraduate qualification with specialisation in risk management.

A qualitative research approach was followed, involving academics teaching risk management in a focus group and making use of interactive qualitative analysis (IQA).

The competencies identified were business management skills, financial knowledge, an understanding of the risk management process, governance and compliance, people management and technical skills. These will be explained in greater detail in the paper.

The implications for teaching are that an undergraduate curriculum in risk management will have to combine majors such as business management, financial management, risk management, industrial psychology and communication. These majors need to be complemented by modules in governance and compliance management, as well as information and communication technology.

The implication for practice is that risk management professionals and members of the Institute of Risk Management of South Africa need to avail themselves to serve on an advisory board of academic departments offering risk management qualifications. Risk management is a developing science and requires inputs about research and the curriculation of qualifications.

The implication for public policy is that the South African Qualifications Authority and the Council for Higher Education should reconsider their requirements for designators (specialised qualifications). The implications for research are that IQA provides clarity on the knowledge and skills required to develop a competency-based qualification in risk management. Further research should benchmark qualifications and propose a curriculum for a bachelor’s degree in risk management.

The use of IQA is a novel way of ensuring rigour and objectivity in arriving at a description of the required knowledge, skills, values and attributes of risk managers. This paper will assist in the compilation of a new curriculum for an undergraduate qualification in risk management; thus, ensuring such qualification will provide a competency-based qualification that will meet the needs of the profession.

The purpose of this paper is first to determine the competencies required of risk managers and second to consider the implications of such competencies in determining modules for inclusion in the curriculum framework of an undergraduate qualification in risk management.

A qualitative research approach was followed, involving risk management professionals in a focus group and making use of interactive qualitative analysis (IQA).

The competencies identified are managerial and risk management knowledge, attributes such as assertiveness and steadfastness and ethical values, as well as people and technical skills. These are explained in greater detail in this paper.

The unique contribution of the current research was the innovative use of IQA for data collection, the removal of subjectivity and the rigour in analysing and presenting the results. The results provide a starting point for designing a curriculum that will both meet the requirements of the professional body and will equip graduates with the best possible combination of knowledge, attributes, values and skills needed by the risk management profession. The implications for further research include that a comparative IQA study of the competencies of risk managers using academics from the field could be undertaken, as well as a study of the design, benchmarking and validation of a proposed curriculum for an undergraduate degree in risk management. The purpose of this study was not to compile a curriculum for a new BCom (risk management). However, this was beyond the scope of the current study. IQA uses rigour and eliminates the bias of the researcher, and the one limitation of this research lies in the use of a focus group, which resulted in the findings not being generalizable as the case would have been with a representative sample used in the positivist paradigm and using appropriate statistical analysis. However, this study was exploratory and could serve as a valuable starting point for further research in this area to perform a comprehensive curriculum development.

This study found that constituents of the focus group perceived that the following competencies are required of risk managers, namely, knowledge, skills, attributes and values. These competencies correspond closely with the competencies indicated in the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Professional Core Competency Model, except that RIMS subdivides knowledge into three categories, namely, business, organisational and risk management knowledge. Similarly, RIMS distinguishes between management skills and technical skills. The attributes identified by the focus group of this study were similar to those identified by RIMS. However, the focus group emphasised values such as integrity, ethical conduct, respect and accountability. However, unlike RIMS, these were not perceived as one of the five core competencies, but rather as a stand-alone competency in its own right, which risk managers need to be successful. RIMS could consider reviewing its core competencies by allocating three closely related aspects, namely communication, collaboration and consultation to technical skills. Core competencies may be replaced by core values, which are literally at the centre of all the competencies required. Such core values are enhanced by the RIMS Code of Ethics (2019) and significantly contribute to the professionalization of risk management. RIMS could also consider providing guidelines to universities for those competencies that could be taught or learnt, to be included in their curricula and to accredit universities who meet such requirements.

The findings of this study also serve as a starting point for the reintroduction of a BCom (risk management) degree by Unisa. Despite the requirements of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the Council for Higher Education (CHE), this study demonstrated that a specialised degree in risk management needs to be offered to meet the need expressed by IRMSA for professional risk managers in Southern Africa, and such a degree should ideally be curriculated based on the competencies identified in this article. The implication for public policy is that SAQA and the CHE need to reconsider their rigid stance about the composition of specialised qualifications, and rather set a range of 33-50% for subjects from the field of specialisation that must be included in the curricula of specialised degrees. As indicated by this research, a combination of subjects from different disciplines is required to enhance the competencies and employability of risk management graduates.

The use of IQA is a novel way of ensuring rigour and objectivity in arriving at the required knowledge, attributes, values and skills of risk managers, and aids in the compilation of a new curriculum for an undergraduate qualification in risk management, thus ensuring the qualification will provide a competency-based qualification that will meet the needs of the profession.

Internal Revenue Code section 162(m) limits tax deductibility of executive compensation to $1 million per covered executive, with an exception for performance-based compensation. Both stock options and annual bonuses can qualify as performance-based, but they vary in the difficulty of qualification and the degree of additional compensation risk that qualification imposes on the executive. Most stock-option grants easily qualify with little change in risk, but qualification increases the risk associated with annual bonus compensation relative to what it was prior. The results of this study show that the propensity to issue stock options has increased for affected executives as a percentage of total compensation. Additional analysis suggests that this increase in stock-option compensation is substituting for lower increases in salary for affected executives, but not for annual cash bonuses. In fact, the results suggest that bonus compensation is also increasing as a percentage of total compensation. In summary, the results indicate that firms and their executives are acting in a way consistent with the incentives provided by section 162(m).

This paper aims to investigate various institutional pressures driving the adoption and implementation of a new risk management system; enterprise risk management (ERM).

The implementation of ERM-related practices is analysed based on an institutional framework and drawing on empirical evidence from multiple sources in ten large/medium-sized insurance companies. This paper focuses on extra-organisational pressures exerted by political, social and economic institutions on insurance companies which drove the adoption decision.

It was found that different change agents have taken part in the decision to introduce new risk management system as a part of ERM implementation process. Further, the institutional pressures, coercive, mimetic and normative, were found to differ in character and strength over different intervals of time in relation to the adoption of ERM. Companies that adopted ERM early were mostly driven by internal strategic drivers, whereas the recent adoption decision was more driven by coercive and mimetic pressures. Thus, evidence of divergence between insurance companies was found.

The findings have implications for policy makers, regulatory agencies and innovation developers. ERM was considered not only as a necessity but also as a value added to the insurance companies under study. Thus, regulators and innovation developers should survey main players in any specific organisational field to understand their views before issuing new compulsory regulations or developing innovations. They also need to consider exploring companies’ experiences with ERM, which can provide a basis for the development of strengthened and more informative regulatory ERM frameworks. This will support a faster and easier understanding and implementation of ERM framework hindered by the confusions companies may face when considering the complicated/changing regulatory and risk requirements.

This study extends the scope of institutional analysis to the risk management field, particularly ERM and to the explanation of how different institutions affect the decision to move towards ERM and modify the risk management rules applied within the organisational environment. It looks not only at convergences but also divergences associated with the period of time when ERM adoption decision was made. Thus, it develops a processual view of change.

Addresses concerns regarding perceptions and measurement of risk and the resultant confusion relating to understanding of the market for audit services. Examines the theoretical justification for a plural approach to dealing with “risk” in audit fee models. Reviews the relevant literature and undertakes a factor analysis of 229 Western Australian firms in search of evidence of plurality. Argues for recognition of the idea that risk in the audit context is composed of two separate but related concepts: audit risk and business risk.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimal model of an integrated quality and safety management system (QSMS).

Keywords related with these systems were identified from international standards and subsequently mined from a selection of peer reviewed articles that discuss and propose varying forms of integrated models for both systems. Cluster analysis was used to establish the degree to which integrated models, as described in the articles were quality dominant vs safety dominant. Word counts were utilized for establishing content and attributes for each category. An optimal integrated model was developed from the final cluster analysis and substantiated by a one-way analysis of variance. Experts from industry were consulted to validate and fine-tune the model.

It was determined that characteristics of an optimal integrated model include the keywords “risk,” “safety,” “incident,” “injury,” “hazards,” as well as “preventive action,” “corrective action,” “rework,” “repair,” and “scrap.” It also combines elements of quality function deployment as well as hazard and operability analysis meshed into a plan-do-check-act type work-flow.

Given the vast array of clustering algorithms available, the clusters that resulted were dependent upon the algorithm deployed and may differ from clusters resulting for divergent algorithms.

The optimized model is a hybrid that consists of a quality management system as the superordinate strategic element with safety management system deployed as the supporting tactical element. The model was implemented as a case study, and resulted in 13 percent labor-hour saving.

The authors empirically investigate the impact of the existence of a stand-alone risk committee (RC) and its characteristics on the likelihood of stock price crash risk in listed financial firms on the Bursa Malaysia. The authors also test whether the effect of RC on crash risk is attenuating or amplifying by the level of institutional ownership.

The authors use a principal components analysis (PCA) to aggregate and derive a factor score for risk committee characteristics (i.e. independence, qualification, and size) as a proxy for the effectiveness of RC. The study also employs two distinct stock price crash risk measurements to corroborate the findings and partition institutional ownership into dedicated and transient to examine the potential impact of institutional shareholding on RC-stock price crash risk association.

Regression analysis reveals that only RC qualification has a significant negative impact on stock price crash risk. However, when RC characteristics are aggregated into one composite factor, the authors find that firms with effective RCs exhibit lower risk of stock price crash. The authors also find that firms with high level of institutional shareholdings and effective RCs are less likely to experience crash risk likelihood. The additional analyses indicate that the complementary moderating effect of institutional ownership on RC-crash risk nexus is likely to be driven by dedicated institutional ownership. The results are robust across two measures of stock price crash risk and regression specifications for a longer run window.

The study, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, is the first to provide evidence in an emerging market financial sector companies' perspective suggesting that effective RCs are individually and aggregately associated with lower stock price crash risk, which is further strengthened by dedicated institutional investors. These findings are unique and contribute to a small but growing body of literature documenting the need for effective RCs and specific institutional investors and their consequences of improvements in stock price crash risk environment. Results of our research in this area provide important insights to financial and capital market participants, investors, regulators, and policymakers in Malaysia.

The article introduces the concept of the “portability of qualifications” as a framework for discussing the consequences of globalisation for labour markets and for the systems and agencies of initial and continuous vocational education and training. It defines the concept in relation to terms such as “mobility”, “flexibility”, “core skills” and “key qualifications”. It provides examples from industry and from the craft trades in Europe. It discusses the role of “portability of qualifications” in developing regions through inward investment and the benefits and risks of “portability of qualifications” from the perspective of the company, the individual worker and labour markets of Europe. Finally, it looks at pathways to foster and maintain the portability of qualifications in vocational education and training.

This study aims to examine the association between the effectiveness of risk committee (RC) and firms’ performance in Malaysian context. It also explores whether political connection has an impact on the relationship.

This study, using a principle components analysis, derives a factor score for RC attributes to proxy the effectiveness of RC. It also uses both accounting and market performance to measure the company performance.

Using a sample of financial firms from 2004 to 2018, this study finds that both accounting and market performance are higher for firms with an effective RC. It also finds that the effectiveness of RC in monitoring and management of risks is more pronounced for politically connected firms (PCFs). In further tests, the paper finds that RC attributes (i.e. RC independence, qualification and gender) are positively and significantly associated with accounting performance, while those of RC existence and overlap are positively and significantly related to market performance. The study also finds that RC size (RC diligence) has a positive (negative) impact on financial firms accounting and market performance. The further analysis also shows that PCFs with a separate as well as larger RCs experience both higher accounting and market performance. This study’s results are robust for concerns of endogeneity.

The findings of this study resolve the ongoing debates surrounding political connection by suggesting financial firms not to have politically connected board members as doing so may deteriorate their performance. This study’s results are also useful for investors, regulators and policymakers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study, for the first time, introduces on the interaction term between the effectiveness of RCs and political connection to empirically explore how an effective RC may reduce the potential risk of political ties. As such, this study adds to the literature and sheds light on an aspect of risk (i.e. risk stems from establishing close link with the government) that is growing in importance.

The purpose of this paper is to engage in a systematic examination of previous scholarship on the relationship between Sharia governance (SG), which is represented by the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB), and the Internal Sharia Review (ISR), to determine whether the ISR can minimize financing risk in Islamic banking.

The literature search consisted of two steps: a randomized and systematic literature review. The methodology adopted in this article is a systematic literature review.

To reduce the risk of financing in Islamic banking, SG must be implemented optimally by making rules regarding the role of the SSB in supervising customer financing. In addition, it is a necessary to establish an entity that assists the SSB in the implementation of SG, namely, the ISR section, but there is still very little research on the role of the SSB and ISR in minimizing financing risk.

Establishing an ISR to assist the SSB in carrying out its duties has direct practical implications for Islamic banking: minimizing financing risks and compliance with Islamic Sharia principles. In addition, new rules regarding the role of SSBs and the ISR in reducing credit risk include monitoring customers to ensure that they fulfill their financing commitments on time. This new form of regulation and review can be used as a reference by the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan or Finance Service Authority to create new policies or regulations regarding SG, especially in Indonesia.

Subsequent research may introduce other more relevant variables, such as empirically testing the competence, independence or integrity of SSB and the ISR team as it attempts to minimize the risk of financing in Islamic banks. In addition, further research is expected to examine whether the SSB or the ISR team has a positive or negative influence on the risk of financing Islamic banks with secondary data.