Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Management Accounting –
Risk and control strategy
Steve Whittenbury casts a critical eye over recent events to highlight
how business risks are created and managed – effectively or otherwise.
It was the night before the 1997 UK about its plans and took industrial action in correspondence needs to be finished by 5pm
general election in the south Devon seaside July and again last month. Although Royal in order to catch the last post and so be
town of Torbay. Having finished his re-election Mail and its trade union are trying to guaranteed to arrive on the recipient’s desk
campaign, the constituency’s Tory MP, negotiate a way forward as FM goes to by 9am the next day. Postal services must,
Rupert Allason, dined in a local restaurant. press, they have to balance two competing therefore, be aware that they risk becoming a
During his meal he is reputed to have demands: keeping the company financially redundant part of business communication in
insulted the staff, all of whom had been viable while ensuring that its human the 21st century.
planning to vote for him. The following day, resources are properly valued. Is the real world now subject to risk as a
the seven employees switched their Postcomm, the industry regulator, has result of the technology we take for granted?
allegiance to the Liberal Democrat candidate. allowed private companies to compete with Telephone communications between
Allason went on to lose his seat to the Royal Mail for daily postal deliveries. The Washington DC and New York were
LibDems – by 12 votes. expected outcome is cheaper postal rates restricted recently when a maintenance crew
If this tale is to be believed, it illustrates the and improved service through efficiencies – in New Jersey accidentally cut a fibre-optic
foolishness of ignoring risks and the impact for example, through the introduction of cable and calls had to be rerouted. Thanks to
that inappropriate acts can have. But surely size- as well as weight-related prices. Its its contingency arrangements, cable operator
this is common sense? If you pre‑empt all “Pricing in proportion” structure is designed MCI was able to report that its long-distance
your risks, you can manage them away and to match the revenue earned by transporting services hadn’t been affected. But this case
minimise their impact. This theory seems printed matter with the true cost – an issue does show the potential impact that the
sound and it underpins the P3 syllabus, yet that the previous system, based on weight physical environment can still have on its
the following problems remain: alone, did not address. virtual counterpart.
n Many employers continue to ignore some It remains to be seen how these Across the Atlantic, environmental factors
of the fundamentals of changes will affect consumers. of a different type proved to be the big talking
this subject (often at But both Royal Mail and its point of the summer. The wet weather
their peril, as we will rivals need to address the affected the quantity and quality of produce
see later). impact that the virtual grown across northern Europe to such an
n Students have great world is having on the extent that it has threatened the supply of
difficulty seeing how this postal business. The advent of goods to supermarkets. If retailers have to
fits in with what is e-mail means that it’s no obtain more costly substitutes from
required by P3, because longer the case that vital alternative sources, farmers’ revenues could
many of them do not
appreciate the nature of
risk and control in the
real world.
A quick look back over the
past year shows us that the
real world is full of uncertainty,
Postal services
which must be dealt with in a
variety of ways. Royal Mail, for must be aware
example, has attempted to
introduce new working that they risk becoming
conditions to modernise its
a redundant part of
Photograph: Alamy
market prices. Shareholders have seen the these events? This year has been a time of this to justify playing truant from high school,
value of their investments shrink as a result of significant uncertainty, brought on by political, but managers need to take Bueller’s maxim
interest rate increases, energy price inflation economic and environmental factors. Some one step further. Life does move pretty fast
and the resulting threat to consumer of them are beyond control; others are being and things do change: unless you keep your
spending. But they will be reassured to handled in a wide range of ways. All of these eyes open and ensure that appropriate
know that, while their investments may examples are both topical and typical – very controls are in place at all times, you may
fluctuate owing to factors that are mostly much the subject of P3, which aims to cover miss the danger and find yourself no longer
beyond their influence, there are controls in the following areas: in business.
place to ensure that the organisations they n The identification and categorisation of
invest in are scrutinised by corporate risks faced by organisations. Steve Whittenbury is education team
governance watchdogs. Unfortunately, n The management of such risks by an subject specialist and tutor for BPP
however, there are problems here as well. appropriate response (taking corrective Professional Education.
56 financial management