It comes as no surprise that risk management is increasingly important in modern business, but the skill set needed to succeed in a risk management role might be a little different than you’d imagine.
These tasks used to often get lumped under the duties of General Counsel, and for good reason – that person is assessing firm-wide risk, after all. However, as the business world continues to evolve, you need to adapt your risk strategies along with it. Instead of considering your firm’s risk from purely a legal perspective, why not look at the whole breadth of your risk, including financial factors? More importantly, what does this mean when you’re shopping for a Chief Risk Officer?
Selena Chavis’s article in the Winter 2013/14 issue of INSIGHT Magazine, “7 Skills for CRO Greatness” recommends you look for someone who first and foremost posses accounting skills with an eye for strategy. This makes a lot of sense to me, as I’ve always viewed risk management through the eyes of a CFO.
Chavis suggests that the highly regulated and detailed nature of being a CPA can provide the ideal training for future CROs, and I agree. As you’re probably aware, I started offering my Outsourcing Services as a way to help small-to-mid-sized business that lack an in-house CFO with their financial planning and risk management needs.