The objective of the study is to establish a perspective of risk management by doing an assessment of current risk management practices, especially in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. Risk management, as a component of corporate governance, was analysed by addressing the following: - The nature of value-creating assets in business; - The primary challenges for risk management over the next three years; - The changing approaches towards risk management; - The role of legislation and external stakeholders; - The role of risk management in strategic planning; - The cost of risk management; and - The benefits of improved risk management capabilities. A survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire in order to obtain primary information from business owners on the current role of risk management in their organisations as well as their view on the role of risk management going forward. Businesses operating in the Port Elizabeth and surrounding area with an existing relationship with Absa Business Banking Services participated in the study. Quantitative techniques were used to analyse the data that were obtained from the sample group. The study revealed that the role of risk management in enterprises is evolving into an integrated, enterprise wide risk management function that can be utilised as a source of competitive advantage, from both a funding perspective for Banks and a business perspective for business owners. Capitalising on risk management as a competitive advantage will ultimately lead to long term sustainability and profitability of South African business enterprises and the South African Banking system.

Die verkeerdelike posisionering van risikobestuur binne organisasies kan die rapporteringskanaal van die risikobestuurder beinvloed. Daar is ook merkbare verskille ten opsigte van risikobeheer aktiwiteite (bv. Sekuriteit en Beroepsgesondheid en-Veiligheid, ens.) Die term "risikobestuurder" word dikwels gebruik vir verskeie posbenamings, byvoorbeeld geboue- of fasilitiete bestuurder, en skep nie alleen verwarring nie, maar bevorder ook nie eenheidsdenke binne die organisasie nie. Risikobestuur het topbestuurstatus binne die organisasie, maar het ook sekere unieke probleme - soos vertragings in besluitnemings- en kommunikasieprosesse. Die oplossing le in die opgradering van die risikobestuurder se posvlak tot die van topbestuurslid waar risikobestuursaangeleenthede op hoer vlak aangespreek kan word. / Police Practice / M.A. (Polisiekunde)

D. Tech. Civil Engineering / Construction contracts have provisional clauses to control financial risks, but studies have shown that cost overruns are still common, which require the inclusion of additional management techniques to improve cost estimates. The research investigated, analysed and identified the shortcomings that exist within the current mechanisms to manage financial risk. A new risk ranking model that can be used to eliminate construction cost overruns in South Africa was developed. The study sought the views from a variety of construction professionals, based on knowledge and experiences within their own organisations, to explore new mechanisms to limit the risk impact of persistent cost overruns.

Die verkeerdelike posisionering van risikobestuur binne organisasies kan die rapporteringskanaal van die risikobestuurder beinvloed. Daar is ook merkbare verskille ten opsigte van risikobeheer aktiwiteite (bv. Sekuriteit en Beroepsgesondheid en-Veiligheid, ens.) Die term "risikobestuurder" word dikwels gebruik vir verskeie posbenamings, byvoorbeeld geboue- of fasilitiete bestuurder, en skep nie alleen verwarring nie, maar bevorder ook nie eenheidsdenke binne die organisasie nie. Risikobestuur het topbestuurstatus binne die organisasie, maar het ook sekere unieke probleme - soos vertragings in besluitnemings- en kommunikasieprosesse. Die oplossing le in die opgradering van die risikobestuurder se posvlak tot die van topbestuurslid waar risikobestuursaangeleenthede op hoer vlak aangespreek kan word. / Police Practice / M.A. (Polisiekunde)

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Information Technology (IT) has become the driving force behind businesses and organizations. However, Information Technology comes with risks and other vulnerabilities. And by the same token, IT also poses threats to the organization. This then means that every organization must be able to contain and manage these risks and threats well, if it is to stay in the market and competitive. Information Technology Risk Management is to control Information Technology risks occurrences, acceptance and mitigate them. This means, organizations need proper precautionary measures and management tools to be able to identify risks, analyze risks, monitor the risks and have risk-reducing measures. This dissertation is about Information Technology Risk Management. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in South Africa tend to focus more on business operations, often neglecting the need to manage Information Technology risks effectively.

Master of Management in Finance & Investment Faculty of Commerce Law and Management Wits Business School University of The Witwatersrand 2016 / The Value-at-Risk (VaR) measurement – which is a single summary, distribution independent statistical measure of losses arising as a result of market movements – has become the market standard for measuring downside risk. There are some diverse ways to computing VaR and with this diversity comes the problem of determining which methods accurately measure and forecast Value-at-Risk. The problem is two-fold. First, what is the distribution of returns for the underlying asset? When dealing with linear financial instruments – where the relationship between the return on the financial asset and the return on the underlying is linear– we can assume normality of returns. This assumption becomes problematic for non-linear financial instruments such as options. Secondly, there are different methods of measuring the volatility of the underlying asset. These range from the univariate GARCH to the multivariate GARCH models. Recent studies have introduced the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) GARCH methodology which is aimed at computational efficiency for the multivariate GARCH methodologies. In our study, we focus on non-linear financial instruments and contribute to the body of knowledge by determining the optimal combination for the measure for volatility of the underlying (univariate-GARCH, EWMA, ICA-GARCH) and the distributional assumption of returns for the financial instrument (assumption of normality, the Johnson translation system). We use back-testing and out-of-sample tests to validate the performance of each of these combinations which give rise to six different methods for value-at-risk computations. / MT2017

M.Com. (Financial Management) / During the last decade, options, which are financial instruments used for trading and hedging, have shown greater development than any other financial instrument over the same period of time. Because option dealing is perceived in the market-place as an instrument which is technically advanced, innovative and, complex, many potential option players do not take part in trading. This process' of withdrawal is fuelled by constant negative publicity given to option trading, but very seldom are reports written on success stories relating to option trading. Current option-trading participants are also constantly reminded by the press; other companies, senior management, board members and shareholders that they run the risk of losing vast sums of money and could take the company down with one reckless transaction. What is unfortunate is that they will not be able to prevent or detect transactions that could lead to such losses. Trading risk is further increased by the fact that quality risk management staff are also very difficult to acquire as this function is perceived to be not as glamorous as being an option dealer. Given the above scenario of what is really happening out there in the world of option trading, the question arises whether option trading activities should be embarked upon by Institutions who have never dealt in options and whether current option trading participants should continue trading or should discontinue trading activities as soon as possible.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

In the 1960s, risk management primarily took the form of purchased insurance against force majeure events. Today, many corporate executives are worried about not only these types of events but also many others (Mair and Cendrowski, 2009:3). “People risks” versus environmental risks, financial risks and technical risks are examples of risks that are often overlooked. People risks include, succession planning (this refers to identifying and developing key talent) and competency and skills building (dealing with employees that do not have requisite skills for success), (William & Paul, 2007:4). Massingham (2010:464) mentions that corporate disasters, such as the collapse of Enron, have increased the need for effective corporate governance, while catastrophic natural disasters, man-made tragedies such as the September 11 terrorist attacks and tsunami of 2004, have increased risk awareness as well as its consequences.

The concept of sustainability has become imperative for any organisation in order to survive and prosper in the long term. As such, the management of fraud risk has become an important component for organisations in order to achieve this objective. The purpose of this study was to explore the management of fraud risk within the South African private hospital sector. The study endeavoured to ascertain how private hospitals in South Africa manage fraud risk. In this regard, problem areas in the management of fraud risk were identified, and recommendations are provided in order to improve the management of fraud risk in the South African private hospital sector. Primary data was collected by means of survey research, which involved management staff at head office level and at hospital level, as these two groups were identified to have the required expertise and experience with regard to risk management procedures and practices within South African private hospitals. The findings suggested that South African private hospitals could improve their current risk management practices, in particular with regard to fraud risk. By implementing the recommendations provided by the study, private hospitals will be able to manage fraud risk more effectively. These recommendations will not only be beneficial to private hospitals, but will also have a positive effect on numerous external stakeholders, because the effective management of fraud risk could lead to considerable cost savings. The public hospital sector of South Africa would equally find the research findings and recommendations of value because it could also be applied to their fraud risk management practices. / Business Management / MCOM (Business Management)