Risk management rises up the agenda as supply chain becomes more complex

Risk management is rising up the company agenda as food and drink firms tackle potential damage from the rising number of threats facing the sector.

The issue emerged at an event organised by Food Manufacture in London last month.

"Risk management has become a much higher profile topic," reported Paul Hopkin, technical director of Airmic, the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers. Hopkin chaired the risk management round table, sponsored by insurance broker Lockton. "There are a number of drivers for that: the supply chain gets more and more complicated ... another hot topic in risk management circles is reputational risks."

Hopkin noted that part of the reason for the increased focus on the subject was the publication of the international standard on risk management, ISO 31000 in 2009.

"The other driver is that the Stock Exchange, through its agency the Financial Reporting Council, is looking to revise the combined code that is the set of rules and regulations that govern listed companies on the Stock Exchange in London," he added.

"The combined code is going to emerge as the UK corporate governance code when they've revised it and there will be more requirements in there on risk management, starting with that every organisation should declare what its 'risk appetite' is."

Risk appetite is an umbrella term that defines a combination of a firm's tolerance to risk with the extent of the risk and its nature.

l The full round table report will be in our April issue.