Top C-suite worries revealed.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: ECONOMY & GROWTH

Regulatory pressure is consistently rated one of the biggest threats facing companies. According to a recent survey a full 70 percent of C-suite executives across all industries say that regulatory changes have caused either substantial or moderate changes in their risk management and reporting processes in the past two years.

The report for KPMG International's survey of more than 1,000 C-suite executives, Expectations of Risk Management Outpacing Capabilities--Time for Action, also includes real-world insights from top executives with risk management responsibility at major companies.

Among the key findings:

* 59 percent of C-suite executives at financial services companies and 53 percent of C-suite energy and natural resources executives identified regulation as their top threat;

* 50 percent of health care executives said government pressure to contain spending was their biggest threat;

* 49 percent of executives in diversified industrials said an economic slowdown in OECD markets was their biggest risk;

* 44 percent of executives in technology, media and telecom said a slowdown in demand was their biggest threat;

* 86 percent of survey respondents said risk management is factored into strategic planning decisions;

* Two thirds of respondents said they will invest more in risk management as a proportion of corporate revenue in the next three years than they did in the...