Industry shakeups brought about by government probes into allegations of bid-rigging and contingency fee abuse has resulted in more respect being paid to corporate insurance buyers by their brokers, but it also has trained a spotlight on risk managers, as their superiors and boards demand more accountability to make sure they are staying on top of potential broker conflicts of interest, industry experts say.

"I think risk managers are probably doing more due diligence on their own," said Carolyn Snow, director of insurance and risk management for Humana Inc., in Louisville, Ky. "That's because risk managers are now being held to higher standards themselves, internally in their own organizations. They need to be able to explain their actions and why they made their decisions in a particular way."

Ms. Snow said while risk managers are increasingly satisfied with their brokers' services and are seeing more transparency in broker compensation, they still need to be vigilant.