Raising the professional bar

Q: What are the current big issues for risk management and what is in focus at the IRM Forum this year?

A: There is a lot of interest in the link between risk management, governance and ethics – how to get boards focused on the right questions and doing the right thing. The impact of the recession on risks for both private and public sector entities is important, as is keeping up to date with the latest in risk management tools and techniques, like the introduction of ISO 31000.

Q: How does risk management education compare with other financial industries? Does it need to be more professional?

A: I think Risk Managers need to educate themselves in order to bring themselves up as professionals, to be equally regarded with accountants and lawyers. In order to do that you have to have a body of knowledge and the tools and techniques. So I think it does need to be more professional. Too often you see people being given responsibility for managing risks for large organisations and projects and you find that they have no qualifications in the subject beyond perhaps a short course. Also, you do see a tendency among some to overcomplicate risk management with jargon and complex models.

hide

You need to have that basic body of professional knowledge and experience to give you confidence to cut through the jargon and get to what is appropriate and proportionate for your organisation. Risk management training tends to be very practical, people have to be able to go away and do things practically once they have studied. The other thing that we emphasise is personal skills and softer skills because communication, influencing decisions and the like is hugely important to provide professional success for a risk manager. We try to encourage people to develop those skills at the same time.

Q: Are there any pan-European qualifications available from education providers?

A: We think it already exists because our qualifications are designed to be internationally focused and our faculties come from different countries and it is put together with that in mind. All the courses that we run are internationally focused and thus transferable across Europe. All the case studies that we use are internationally applicable and we teach a wide variety of country legal settings. And, of course some of the tools and techniques are transferable, whatever country you are in. Our courses are also part-time and distance learning-based so anybody in the world can study them via our website. We can then arrange exams virtually anywhere in the world.

Q: What are the courses on offer at the IRM and what do they entail for the students?

A: We have a progression of courses for people at different stages of their careers. If people come to us with no knowledge of risk management we provide a two-day introductory course on the important issues in risk management. For people who seek professional qualifications we have an introductory level qualification, which is the International Certificate in Risk Management. Students can complete this in less than a year and it covers all the basics of enterprise risk management. They will learn how to put risk registers together and learn how to identify all the different sorts of risk that might affect their organisation.

Q: Once people are risk managers, what can they do next in terms of qualifications?

A: They can then do the Diploma in Risk Management which is a three to five years course. This is the equivalent of an accountancy or actuarial qualification. It covers all aspects of risk management, as well as special papers and a dissertation. It is our top level qualification. We offer students Career Professional Development opportunities. We have an annual conference where people come along and share experiences and knowledge in practical risk management and they can build their network. We also have a variety of special interest groups and regional groups in the U.K. and overseas where people can meet up and debate matters of interest to them.

Q: So you have a European-wide intake of students?

A: Yes we have students from across Europe. In the past – because it is an English-based course – there has been a reluctance to take courses in English. Although that is changing as Europe itself changes and English increasingly becomes the business language. We see particular interest from Eastern Europe and the new states coming into the E.U. and they expect to do things in English. So we have more interest from that part of Europe rather than from the more traditional countries such as France and Germany.

Q: Is there much in-house training available and could it be improved?

A: We see some excellent examples of organisations spreading the management of risk through their organisations by the use of in-house training. This does require however a more general commitment by the organisation to the value of training itself and the acceptance of risk management as something that is part of everyone’s job. But training is notoriously exposed to being cut back when times are tough.

Q: What areas are of particular interest to students at the moment and do you have any new qualifications or developments to reflect this on the horizon?

A: Students are always interested in the practical application of risk management within their organisations and what assurance that process can give. As well as qualifications we are also working on a two day course in enterprise risk management called ‘Fundamentals of Risk Management’ that will meet the demand for a short, taught, introduction to the subject. This will be launched in the early summer. We are working at the moment on a supply-chain risk special paper, which reflects the trend to try and analyse that risk chain in more detail in an increasingly globalised economy. We are also developing a financial services special paper because everyone wants to talk about financial services risk management at the moment.

Q: What are the associations doing to help further risk management education and do you have close links with them?

A: Yes we have very close links with the associations in the U.K., AIRMIC and ALARM. They will promote the IRM qualifications to their members because they don’t offer qualifications themselves. AIRMIC has focused in the last year on their AIRMIC Academy and they have been running various short courses and workshops. But, they haven’t gone as far as offering a full professional qualification. We look forward to working with them further to respond to their members’ needs. We have recently signed an agreement with NORIMA, the Norwegian risk management association [click here for full details] to offer IRM qualifications and events to their members at a discount. This follows a similar agreement with SWERMA, the Swedish risk management association. We expect these agreements to start off slowly at first but to gain pace as students tell their colleagues of their experience. We would be very pleased to offer similar arrangements to other European associations.