Weathering the Weather

An article in the May 2013 CFO magazine talks about changes in the engineering of supply chains, or in more general terms, Risk Management (RM). Has anyone re-examined their RM polices, procedures and of course threats and responses lately? And if not, is it because of a) budgetary concerns, b) insurance issues (or lack thereof), c) Ostrich syndrome or d) some combination?

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Regis Quirin Director of Finance • October 17, 2013

Annually I require a review of all policies & procedures from those doing the job. I personally review Risk Management procedures. I never really understood the "budgetary concerns" excuse. That excuse only works if the cost of the review is greater than the potential loss associated with deficient risk management.

Deanna Miller Chief Financial Officer • October 18, 2013

External events have driven adjustments in our risk management activities. The triple disaster in Japan made us re-examine our evaluation of sole source suppliers - not just company, but also geography - and adjust our purchasing risk management accordingly. The new UK Anti-bribery Act and enhanced enforcement of FCPA made us relook at the scope of our compliance training to cover additional exposed areas and more formally include our partners. New financing with new covenants also added to the scope of sources of risk. One action that we have taken is to more formally role out risk management committees throughout the organization to help identify and address risks closer to their source and hopefully move us from a reactive to a proactive mode.

Wayne Spivak President & CFO • October 18, 2013

Deanna,

Given the invilvemt in RM and I'll assume BC, does your company have a "Chief" RM/BC person?

Chris Shumate Accounting Manager • October 18, 2013

Wayne - Have you fully recovered from what Sandy did to your business last year? The topic of weathering the weather reminded me of the multitudes of business, people, etc., that suffered insurmountable losses. Are you back to running at full speed? How about others in your surrounding network? It is almost the one year anniversary of its destruction.

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