We have seen how the ascent of the shareholder value concept gave rise to a specific ideal
type of risk management, Risk and Value Management. This section focuses on the impact of
another powerful notion, heralded by corporate governance advocates, that of risk-based
internal control.
Reading closely the reports from the Treadway Commission (COSO 2003) and the Turnbull
Report (ICAEW 1999), these important milestones of Anglo-Saxon corporate governance
advocate ERM as a framework for capturing risks that are material from the point of view of
the achievement of the strategic objectives of the enterprise. Apart from the measurable risk
silos, this conception of ERM encompasses risks that cannot be readily quantified or
aggregated. These non-quantifiable risks include, for example, the risks of strategic failure,
environmental risks, reputational risks and operational risks that materialise only rarely.
Recent developments in corporate governance have emphasised the importance of monitoring
and managing these risks.
As a result, there have been calls for the risk management framework to be gradually
expanded to incorporate non-quantifiable risks in addition to those that can be quantified.
However, by attempting to render non-quantifiable risks to control, risk managers have to
venture outside the boundaries of risk quantification, risk aggregation, regulatory capital
determination and internal capital allocation.
Some have done so. However, what lies beyond the management of quantifiable risks, is not
specified. We have a picture of risk managers casting their nets wide to catch non-quantifiable