Know and Tell: A Business Perspective on the Risk of Disclosure

Organizations around the world are being forced to mitigate the risks inherent in numerous business-critical issues: governance, intangibles, technology, environment, corporate citizenship, external forces, political risk, health care, human resources and the global economy. Yet disclosure of the risks associated with these issues has not been as forthcoming as stakeholders want it to be.

This briefing encourages organizations to use an enterprise risk management approach to examine disclosure on two levels. At the enterprise level, an organization is guided through an assessment of organizational vulnerabilities and an evaluation of risk management preparedness. At the process level, four steps helps organizations to make the final decision about disclosure by: exploring the reasons why organizations are reluctant to disclose, assessing the risk of disclosure, understanding stakeholder expectations and getting feedback on the impact of potential disclosure on the organization.