ERM seen emerging as key board issue.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: RISK MANAGEMENT - Survey - Brief article

With a wave of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) hitting U.S. companies, enterprise risk management (ERM) has moved to the forefront of issues facing boards of directors and general counsels. That's according to the seventh annual legal study from Corporate Board Member magazine and FTI Consulting Inc., a global business advisory firm.

In efforts to reduce corporate risk, companies are increasingly turning to ERM, which is intended to provide a systematic approach to identifying, quantifying, managing and mitigating risk. "If crisis management is the remedy to an explosive situation, ERM is the preventive medicine," noted Roger Carlile, leader of FTI Consulting's Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment.

While 45 percent of directors and 48 percent of general counsels spent more time on ERM in 2006 than in previous years, only 27 percent of directors and 25 percent of general counsels said they would like their...