A cross sectoral comparison of risk management practices in selected South African organizations

This paper examines the manner in which risk is governed in certain selected sectors of the South African economy. To extract the statement deemed as a proxy of risk management practices in the certain selected South African organizations, the disclosure risk measurement instrument was developed. This instrument was used as a gauging tool for the information disclosed in the integrated/annual report. Risk practices statements were formulated using the governance of risk chapter of the King III Report on Corporate Governance, applicable to all organization regardless of manner or form of incorporation and the Public Sector Risk Management Standards, applicable to South Africa’s public service organizations. The results obtained indicated a high level of risk management practices by the JSE listed companies. This could be attributed to the fact that the King Code has been incorporated as part of the JSE listings requirements. This paper further theorized that the high level practices in JSE listed companies could be attributable to the high level of scrutiny by shareholders in companies where they have vested interest. With regards to the National Government Departments and the South Africa’s higher education institutions, a lot of work still has to be done to embed key risk practices in these respective organization’s internal processes. Keywords: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), National Government Departments (NGDs), Risk Disclosure Index (RDI). JEL Classification: M4