Risk management, risk determination and risk assessment have historically been dealt with explicitly in accounting, and accounting related fields of study in the areas of financial accounting, finance and audit areas. However, in management accounting, risk management has predominantly been an implicit function within the organisation and left to financial accountants to assess and decide what risks and how much risk information should be used in decision-making and external reporting (Elliott & Elliott, 2006; Henderson, Pierson & Herbohn, 2006). Financial accounting considerations have included the management of financial risk (e.g., currency, interest rate and credit risks), and risk disclosure (e.g., market risk, liquidity risk, cash flow risk, and risk management policies). A crossover from financial accounting to finance occurs when considering the impact of risk on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and capital asset pricing model (CAPM), or the work of business analysts and credit assessment agencies such as Standard & Poor or Moody's Investor Services (Elliott & Elliott, 2006).
