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Risk in Focus

Hot topics for internal auditors: the 2023 report

Risk in Focus is an annual thought leadership research project analysing the top risks faced by organisations across Europe. It is an essential tool for audit committees and a barometer of what Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) and others perceive as their organisations’ risk priorities for 2023 and beyond.

The theme of this year’s report is navigating and auditing in the perfect storm of high-impact interlocking risks, download the newly published report today to support you and your team going forward.

Key findings

Cybersecurity tops our annual business risk survey. 82% of CAEs cited this as a top five risk.
Half of CAEs cited human capital, diversity, and talent management as a top five risk making it the second biggest risk faced by organisations.
CAEs are more concerned with Geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty than they previously were – it's gone from 7th to 3rd place in the risk rankings (a 44% year on year increase).

Download the Risk in Focus 2023 report (PDF)

Risk in Focus 2023 Board Briefing

Boards must adapt to heightened geopolitical instability, climate-related natural disasters, looming recession, and an accelerating cost of living catastrophe in Europe.

The key to navigating these circumstances will be for senior management teams and boards to stop seeing these as Black Swan events. They are elements of a continuous storm that will blow through Europe in 2023 and beyond.

For a summary of Risk in Focus 2023, tailored to senior management teams and boards, download the Risk in Focus 2023 Board Briefing.

About the report

For the past seven years, Risk in Focus has sought to highlight key risk areas to help internal auditors prepare their independent risk assessment work, annual planning and audit scoping. It helps Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) to understand how their peers view today’s risk landscape as they prepare their forthcoming audit plans for the year ahead.

This year, Risk in Focus 2023 involved a collaboration between 14 Institutes of Internal Auditors spanning 15 European countries which included: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK & Ireland. The highest number of European countries involved so far. The survey elicited a record-breaking 834 responses from CAEs across Europe. Simultaneously, four roundtable discussions were organised with 39 CAEs on each of the risk areas covered in the report.

In addition, we also conducted 9 one-to-one interviews with subject matter experts that included CAEs, Audit Committee Chairs and industry experts to provide deeper insights into how these risks are manifesting and developing. The colour scheme for this year’s Risk in Focus has been chosen as the same colours of the Ukraine flag, to express European solidarity and support with the people of Ukraine.

Methodology

Risk in Focus 2023 research was conducted in March and April 2022. Data was collected through a quantitative survey among CAEs across 15 European countries which included: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK & Ireland. The survey elicited a record-breaking 834 responses from CAEs across Europe.

Simultaneously, four roundtable discussions were organised with 39 Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) on each of the risk areas covered in the report. In addition, we also conducted 9 one-to-one interviews with subject matter experts that included CAEs, Audit Committee Chairs and industry experts to provide deeper insights into how these risks are manifesting and developing.