Nobody wants to set goals only to see them fail. Sustainability goals, especially, have become pivotal in organisational efforts to develop, grow, and maintain competitiveness in an increasingly difficult and complex business environment. But setting goals is one thing; achieving them is another. In the midst of running operations and maintaining the business as a going concern, how do companies ensure that they are doing the right thing, or if the measures that have been put in place are not doing what they are supposed to do? How do companies recognise the warning signs that they are falling ..read more

Enterprise Risk Management, ERM, looks at risk management from the perspective of the entire organisation. It identifies and assesses potential losses, dangers, hazards and other potentially harmful factors that may prevent the organisation from achieving its objectives. Appropriately applied, ERM supports sound decision-making and offers sound risk responses in today’s volatile, dynamic and uncertain business environment. ERM is founded on four pillars: risk identification and assessment; risk response; control activities and monitoring; and information, communication and reporting. All ERM f ..read more

Integrating ERM into third-party risk management (TPRM) is about how to manage third parties, and how we build stronger relationships for the future, said Ramesh Pillai, at the start of a recent Tea Talk on the subject. He noted that this was a subject that had already been discussed at the international level, with some businesses even heading towards fourth-party risk management. In some cases, regulators have already mentioned that companies should consider this. “Third-party risk management is now moving to fourth-party risk management,” Ramesh said. “It’s not way out on the horizon. It’s ..read more

Corporate Governance (CG) generally refers to the system of rules, practices and processes by which companies are governed. This includes the rights and responsibilities of all the entity’s stakeholders, and is aimed at ensuring that the interests of everyone – shareholders, management, employees, suppliers, customers etc – are protected. The board is responsible for ensuring that the company is guided by the appropriate CG rules and policies; these are based on four principles: accountability, transparency, fairness and responsibility. In today’s business environment, however, CG has become m ..read more

As times and doing business grow more challenging by the day, how are those who are not directly involved with ERM, coming to grips with what (for them) looks like another major challenge? It’s all in the leadership, and individuals in top management who understand what ERM is about, are at the forefront of convincing corporations that applying its principles will help the firm confidently rise to those challenges. One practitioner and believer who is in the thick of it is Mr. Poh Ying Loo, Executive Director – Corporate Management, who is also the CFO and deputy chief risk officer with multin ..read more

As part of the risk and control oversight function for the Wholesale Banking division of a local financial institution, Raj Kumar Ganaser ensures the effective execution of the firm’s risk management framework. His job sees him collaborating with a host of people at all levels, helping them manage their operational risks. Every day sees him identifying and assessing operational risks that may impact the business and bringing them to the attention of those responsible for mitigating them. His job doesn’t end there; he continues monitoring them to ensure that they remain adequately managed and r ..read more

As Executive Director of Asian Pac Holdings Berhad (APHB), Dr Raymond Yu has his work cut out for him. He is responsible for managing the firm’s direction, strategies and growth – which, of course, just about covers everything that Main Board-listed company focuses on. APHB main business is property development and investment holdings, mall and carpark ownership and trading in building materials. As if all this is not enough, he has a portfolio of investment properties to take care of as well. By his own admission, “Getting through every day is risk management. The future is uncertain, and we ..read more

Cornerstones of Cybersecurity It looked like Lee Chin Hon was all set for an accounting career, with a first degree in Accounting & Finance, and a second, a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours, also in Accounting & Finance. In fact, from the middle of the 1990s, his educational focus was on little else and culminated, in 2003, in membership with Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ). Somewhere along the way, his interest in cybersecurity was sparked. In his early school days, he had an interest in computing and took programming language classes in Primary School. At ..read more

Governance is Top Priority One question that is often asked of Tony Chin is what companies did wrong and became a distressed organisation. The Corporate and Debt Restructuring expert responds with just a one-word answer: “Management.” But he is quick to qualify this with a comprehensive explanation that lays out, in a nutshell, the approach which ended in disaster for many companies, as well as what they should have done to avoid the dire straits that so many found themselves in. Tony, who for many years was Chairman of the Board and Independent Non-Executive Director at Sumitomo Mitsui Bankin ..read more

From Audit Assistant to General Manager Chyselle Oh makes it a point to learn from each and every one of the jobs she has held over the past 15 years, and has to teach her. With a Bachelor of Science in Applied Accounting, she lost no time in taking up an audit assistant position in her hometown straight out of university. But bigger things were in store. Within six months she made a move to the big city and landed an executive position with Leong Hup Holdings Bhd’s group internal audit function. She then moved to  Taylor’s Education Group’s group internal audit, where she stayed for seve ..read more