A poll carried out for an Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and SunGard Availability Services ‘round table’ discussion on Tuesday 16 June has found that supply chain issues and the impact of redundancies on business effectiveness have emerged as the two biggest risks to business operations as a result of the recession.

The poll also showed that two thirds of organizations that responded believe they face greater operational risks than compared with 12 months ago.

Over 70 percent of those polled at and shortly before the event, which was attended by chief financial officers, finance directors and heads of operational risk, said that the risk of disruption caused by supply chain issues has increased in the past 12 months, with concerns over the stability and resilience of smaller suppliers and partners in the difficult economic climate. The impact of redundancies and cutbacks on the effectiveness of the day-to-day operations was also cited by more than 50 percent of respondents as a growing cause of concern.

Key findings:
• 65 percent of those polled believe that levels of operational risk have increased within the past year;
• 70 percent of respondents believe they are at more risk from damaging supply chain issues (e.g. business partners going out of business) compared to a year ago;
• Around half of respondents state that redundancies and cost reductions have impacted on effectiveness of day-to-day operations and increased operational risk;
• A third of survey respondents say that risk and resilience issues are now discussed at board level.

www.sungard.co.uk

•Date: 24th June 2009• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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