A few months ago I wrote about the rising visibility and responsibility of risk management professionals, linking to articles about the growing demand for risk training and talent. Along that train of thought, I was just able to get to this month’s edition of Risk Management, which along with a great photographic review of the last year in risk management, has an article outlining the progress the profession has made over the last decade. It’s interesting to think that 10 years ago risk management was a much smaller discipline focused on relatively narrow problems like the Y2K software flaw. Things have changed a lot.

Case in point, the SEC announced this week the approval of new rules that will, among other things, require companies to disclose the relationship between their compensation policies and risk management, as well as describe the board of directors’ role in risk oversight.

Understanding what compensation policies have a material impact on an organization’s risk and developing policies for board-level oversight of risk will require guidance from internal and/or external risk experts… good news for any risk experts who appreciate gainful employment. And of course, many additional regulations and SEC rules expected to come together early next year are also likely to continue this trend.

Forrester continues to field a large number of inquiries on the fundamentals and best practices of risk management, in addition to more advanced questions on process and technology implementations. I’m looking forward to working with customers more in what should be another interesting year in risk management.