The use of a deterministic numeric paradigm in auditing and accounting may well be the root cause of many current problems. This paper argues that risk‐based accounting methods should start using probabilistic inputs which would show resultant distributions as output. “Stochastic...

The calculation of economic capital in its entirety has, until recently, been complex. But increasingly it has become a risk‐management system across entire groups. The author looks at how it can be done and analyses the advantages it creates.

In this article, drawn from a speech Howard Davies made to the Securities regulatory Commission in China, the author contrasts the efforts which are being made in developing economies like China with the more established regulatory regimes like those of the UK and the USA. He argues that good...

Andrew Smithers is a leading UK economist and pundit. This outline of a talk which he gave to the UK Asset and Liability Management Association earlier this year looks at the economic prognosis for both the Japanese and the US economies. Both are facing tough and almost impossible choices, he...

Banks are often smug about their management of risk. Smugness may well be justified for market and credit risks, but banks can learn much from industry about managing operational risk. In order to manage operational risk, industry has evolved enterprise risk/reward management systems which...

International Accounting Standards are steadily becoming the norm. The European Union agreement that all listed companies in Europe must comply by the year 2005 has hastened the process further. This brings particular challenges for all organisations in the financial services world but for...

The author argues that in difficult times for risk and corporate governance the corporate treasurer is increasingly the most valuable source of information for non‐executive directors. Risk is at the heart of the work of the corporate treasurer. This is particularly true in financial services...

The insurance market is having a tough time. Costs are rising as risk become tougher. But the best risks see high costs of insurance as a reason to leave the market and insure themselves. The market cycle has been broken. The key now is to understand and manage risks. Alternative risk transfer...

It is shown that the widely used risk measures standard deviation and value at risk do not always reflect risk preferences accurately. To overcome these problems in risk measurement a class of coherent risk measures has been proposed. We introduce the idea behind these measures and provide an...

This position paper from the Financial Reporting Committee of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales provides an update on the latest thinking on risk management within the corporate environment. It argues that directors should provide more information about their risk...