City University, London, choose Risk Governance
November 2003

City University, London, has chosen to implement Risk Governance to help the university achieve compliance to the guidelines for risk management and internal control reporting, published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

HEFCE are responsible for £5,485 million of public funding, and are responsible for ensuring that these funds are used responsibly and for their intended purpose, and that higher education institutions have proper systems for managing and controlling its finances through annual audited financial statements. A recent update to HEFCE's policy document states that it will be taking a more risk-based and focussed approach to auditing institutions, and will ask for demonstrable evidence of a comprehensive risk management framework. An institution must have clearly articulated policies for governance, management, quality, reputation and financial risks, aligned to business objectives, supported by a regime of continuous assessment.

City University has almost 10,000 students from 153 countries and is the leading university for business and the professions. Denis Day, Director of Internal Audit was responsible for finding and implementing a technology to underpin the risk framework they wanted to put in place. "It was extremely important that we embed a culture for risk assessment, management and reporting across the university with as little bureaucratic overhead as possible," said Day. "Risk Governance has a number of unique capabilities that made it the choice for us, particularly its very intuitive interface and flexible reporting. The product will be rolled out to 45 key people across the university."

The product closely mirrors the Risk Management Standard published by AIRMIC (the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers) and is recommended by many industry practitioners as an innovative enterprise software solution for compliance, operational risk management, performance management and audit management. Risk Governance demonstrates a unique perspective on the challenges that the implementation of enterprise risk management presents, through the use of innovative graphical techniques in the browser.

Lindsay John Cox, Managing Director of RGL commented, "Wherever you look now, good corporate governance practices are being demanded in every significant business entity, whether in the private or public sector. Higher education institutions are no exception to that trend, and with the responsibility for significant public funds, you can understand why HEFCE demand tighter controls and clearer evidence of good practice. We are delighted that City University are setting the trend in the sector, and producing tangible evidence of how important these guidelines are to their success."

Risk management and corporate governance is an ever-present boardroom agenda item. Risk management expectations in world-class companies extend beyond those of simple compliance to sustainable and significant improvements in business performance.

About Risk Governance Limited

Risk Governance Ltd is a leading provider of Enterprise Risk Management software, allowing companies to have far more effective visibility of the risks to their businesses, providing tangible evidence of their desire to adopt strong corporate governance standards for their stakeholders.

About City University

City University was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute and awarded full university status in 1966. It is based in the heart of London, close to the City of London, where it contributes significantly to the capital's academic, cultural and business life. The students benefit from the University's internationally renowned experience of more than one hundred years' of teaching and learning. Dynamic research activity across all schools and institutes, including substantial interdisciplinary work, underpins City's distinctive position as the University for business and the professions.