@Risk

New survey results show that businesses, in general, continue to rank enterprise risk management as a high priority. And yet, different sectors are now focusing on different aspects of their particular risk profiles. Financial institutions, for instance, tend to place a strong emphasis on liquidity risk buffers and stress testing. Nonfinancial firms are focusing more on operational risk and cash flow at risk.

The survey, conducted by the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) and Microsoft Corp., polled 1,662 global PRMIA members. Most (84 percent) were from financial institutions, while 16 percent were from nonfinancial institutions.

Interestingly, the risk managers participating in the study identified deeper business knowledge and quantitative and communication expertise as the top skills required for future risk and compliance roles. In addition, survey respondents said that in the future they expect to see: (more…)

Ninety-four multinational companies recently participated in A.T. Kearney’s global survey of indirect procurement, and the results suggest that unfortunately, many firms remain resistant to updating analytics techniques.

Specifically, the data showed that even though indirect procurement categories like IT, marketing and advertising, facilities management, MRO, Logistics and professional services, have become increasingly important to Chief Procurement Officers and their organizations, most companies are adopting new practices at a much slower rate than analysts expected.

For example, A.T. Kearney found that: (more…)

Today’s business environment demands effective management of working capital, and that means more and more companies are turning the spotlight on their AP Departments.

It’s about time.

After all, even seemingly small AP errors can add up, becoming a constant drain on productivity, supplier relationships and the bottom-line –and complexities in today’s global supply chain only make the problems worse. In fact, new research from Sterling Commerce reveals that companies can gain significant cost benefits from updating certain routine AP practices, such as cross-border invoicing. Sterling Commerce found that by automating country-specific mandates for cross-border invoicing around processing, archiving and auditing, organizations can eliminate error associated with manual processing and reduce related penalties and fines.

According to the survey: (more…)