Improving Government Decision Making through Enterprise Risk Management

The public’s trust in government continues to be low levels, as measured in numerous surveys. This perception is shaped in part from stories about how federal agencies could have improved, if leaders had taken the time to foresee and mitigate potential risks. Federal leaders recognize the need to address risks effectively. While historically, the federal government has tended to focus risk management in the financial arena, the Office of Management and Budget has recently launched a major reassessment of the government’s approach—encouraging the use of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM).