CFO's, RMs Differ Over Company Risk In Survey

NU Online News Service, April 9, 2:38 p.m. EST?Risk managers think the biggest hazard to their companies' revenues is a property related loss, but financial officers at most firms think the greatest risk lies elsewhere, a survey released today reported.

The finding was made in a study by an insurer and two trade organizations, which also reported that more than one-third of the world's leading companies said they are not sufficiently prepared to protect top revenue sources and have room for improvement.

The survey was conducted by commercial and industrial property insurer FM Global, the Financial Executives Research Foundation, and the National Association of Corporate Treasurers. Researchers said they polled nearly 400 CFOs, treasurers and risk managers in an industrial cross section including U.S. and international companies.

Rating the top hazards to their companies' revenues, 71 percent of risk managers said the greatest perils were property-related items such as fire, explosion, natural disaster, terrorism, theft, breakdowns, supply shortages, strikes or cyber crime.

Only 48 percent of financial executives took that view. A slight majority of them, 52 percent saw the top hazards as non-property related items such as employee practices, product recall, pricing volatility and personal accidents. Twenty-nine percent of risk managers put non-property perils first.

Marla Markowitz Bace, chief operating officer, for Financial Executives Research Foundation, said the survey found between CFOs and risk managers, there was often a different view over what were their firms' top sources of revenue, relevant hazards, business continuity plans and insurance budgets.

"There needs to be better communication between financial executives and risk managers," she said.

Eighty-eight percent of financial executives and 83 percent of risk managers in the survey reported their companies' level of preparation to recover from a major disruption to a top revenue source is less than "excellent."

That finding follows a poll by Allianz Insurance at this week's Risk Insurance Management Society conference, in which 19 percent of risk managers polled said they are not confident that their business continuity plans are effective and an additional four percent said they have no business continuity plan. (A business continuity plan details how an organization responds to any event or crisis that disrupts its operations.)

Also reported in the FM Global survey was the finding that 80 percent of companies report no significant shift in their risk management outlook post-September 11th--either strategically or operationally.

An executive summary of the study, is located on the Web at www.protectingvalue.com.

FM Global is located in Johnston, R.I.

Financial Executives Research Foundation, Inc. is the research affiliate of Financial Executives International, Florham Park, N.J. The foundation purpose is to sponsor of business management research and publish informative material in the field. It is funded by voluntary tax-deductible contributions from corporations and individuals.

The National Association of Corporate Treasurers (NACT) is a professional association of corporate treasurers based in Reston, Va.

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CFO's, RMs Differ Over Company Risk In Survey

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