Risk and business:
Fundamentally, what we’re looking at is whether board oversight of risk management actually makes any difference at all. There’s been a big push for risk management given the financial crisis and many other things impacting the economy now. So, institutional investor companies’ regulators have been pushing boards to do more oversight of risk management. The question is: Is it real or is just window dressing? Do you just see companies putting this in because this is what everybody wants? We’re looking at whether it really makes a difference how a board does risk oversight. Does it have an impact on the risk management practices of the companies? And ultimately, does it pay off? Do firms have lower risks when they have more board oversight, and higher stock returns?