Board evaluation template

Risk management

Evaluate how well the board oversees risk: appetite, emerging threats, and the systems that keep management accountable.

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How to use this template

Sample risk management questions

Risk oversight is where boards are most often caught out, usually by risks they acknowledged but never truly engaged with. This template helps the board assess its risk appetite, its visibility of emerging risks, and the effectiveness of the systems beneath it.

These questions are a sample of the BoardOutlook risk management diagnostic. The complete diagnostic is intended to be used on the BoardOutlook platform.

The board has a clear, shared understanding of the organisation’s risk appetite.
The board has visibility of emerging and non-financial risks, not only known ones.
Risk management systems and reporting give the board genuine assurance.
The board devotes sufficient time to the risks that matter most.
Risk is considered as an integral part of strategy, not a separate exercise.

Why it matters

Why risk oversight matters

Most boards say they care about future risks, and most genuinely believe they do. Yet unknown or slow-moving risks are exactly the ones that oversight tends to miss.

Reviewing risk oversight tests whether appetite is truly shared, whether emerging risks are visible, and whether the board is spending its attention where exposure is greatest.