Connecting organizational objectives, risks, and assessments to support better decisions
This course is part of The Complete Guide to Risk and Internal Controls, a comprehensive training series designed to build practical knowledge and skills in identifying, assessing, managing, and responding to risks through effective internal controls.
Risk Management Essentials: From ERM to Risk Assessment combines the foundations of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) with the practical skills needed to identify and assess organizational risks. Learners will explore how ERM supports organizational objectives, examine key risk management concepts and frameworks, and understand the roles and responsibilities involved in managing risk. The course then moves into risk identification and assessment, where learners connect risks to objectives, develop meaningful risk statements, identify risks from multiple sources, and organize risks across the enterprise, entity, and process levels. Learners will also evaluate likelihood and impact, apply risk matrices, and use judgment to assess inherent risk before considering internal controls.
Topics Covered:
• Understanding ERM and its role in organizational success
• Key ERM concepts and terminology
• Risk management frameworks and maturity
• The Three Lines and risk management responsibilities
• Connecting organizational objectives to risks
• Enterprise, entity, and process-level risks
• Objective, cause, risk, impact, and control
• Writing clear and meaningful risk statements
• Common risk categories
• Primary and secondary risk impacts
• Risk identification techniques and sources
• Building a risk universe
• Likelihood and impact assessment
• Applying a risk matrix
• Inherent risk
• Using judgment in risk assessment
Audit Smarter, not Harder - with Elizabeth and Audie the Internal Otteror!
Elizabeth McDowell, CPA, CIA has over 20 years of audit experience and is the founder of Audit Forward, an innovative internal audit consulting and training firm. Elizabeth is passionate about advancing and advocating for the internal audit profession and was recognized as one of the 2023 Internal Audit Beacons by Richard Chambers. Elizabeth makes auditing and training fun (no, really!) with the help of her mascot, Audie the Internal Otteror. Elizabeth’s most recent industry experience was at Achieve, where she was Sr. Director, Audit Strategy; prior to that, she held internal audit leadership roles at Elevations Credit Union, Fidelity Investments, and Xcel Energy after first starting her career at Ernst & Young.
