As PwC UK’s Chief Risk Officer and General Counsel, I am the Management Board member responsible for identifying and managing risks to the firm.
This year has been another turbulent one with geopolitical uncertainty, economic challenges and technological advancements. The rapid evolution of risks and how they impact our business means that the Management Board must constantly review and adapt the firm’s strategy, in order to remain resilient with this pace of change.
Our approach to risk management is underpinned by good governance that supports agile decision-making. Outside of the UK there have been high-profile failures that serve to remind us of the importance of acting ethically and with integrity at all times. We’ve also spent time reflecting with our leaders on the importance of good governance and how it drives positive behaviours and culture.
We actively consider and debate risk and related issues across our governance forums, including our Executive Risk Committee and our Client Committee. We are held accountable for our approach by the Supervisory Board Risk Committee, and our Independent Non-Executives challenge us to ensure that we consider risks through the lens of the public interest.
So what have we been doing as a firm to ensure we are best equipped to navigate the risk landscape and build resilience?
We continue to use our Top Risks process to inform our risk register and ensure that we're focused on the current and emerging risks facing our firm.
In addition, this year our Executive Risk Committee has invited in some of our client-facing partners to inform our debates. We've heard from our partners who specialise in risk management, sharing their perspectives on how it's evolving and good practice they are seeing and advising on in the market.
While our UK firm governance model is mature, we continue to evolve it in response to new requirements, such as the Audit Firm Governance Code 2022, and to make improvements as raised by our stakeholders from time to time.
We're vocal in our support of the UK Government’s ambitions to reform the corporate governance, reporting and audit system, and believe this work remains central to maintaining and strengthening the UK's reputation as a trusted and leading place to do business. We have welcomed the FRC’s review of the UK Corporate Governance Code and their efforts to continue driving up standards, and are fully engaged with their consultation that was launched in May 2023.
Our global strategy, The New Equation, emphasises the importance of a human-led, tech-enabled approach to achieving sustained outcomes, for which resilience is key. Ensuring good risk management and governance to support our people in living our PwC values and purpose is key to delivering this strategy.
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