Comprehensive Risk Assessment Project for Deloitte

This project offers a comprehensive risk assessment for Deloitte, a multinational corporation. It begins with a project proposal outlining the company's objectives, research methods, and key business areas, focusing on technology and risk reduction. The proposal employs exploratory and explanatory research methods, including data analysis and collection. An annotated bibliography then reviews relevant literature on supply chain risk management, ERP projects, and risk assessment models in various industries. The core of the project is a risk assessment report that emphasizes the importance of identifying, prioritizing, and measuring risks within Deloitte. The report highlights the risk assessment process, including event identification and risk response, to manage risks effectively and within defined tolerance thresholds. The project provides a detailed analysis of risks and potential mitigation strategies within the organization.

Running Head: RISK ASSESSMENT 1
Risk Assessment
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Introduction
The entire project will revolve around the risk assessment. It can be said that the risk
assessment is one of the major elements of an organization in the recent times. It is mainly a vital
part of managing the safety and health of the business for controlling the risks in the workplace.
On the other hand, the risk assessment is also a determination of the qualitative as well as a
quantitative estimate of risk that is directly related to a particular situation and a threat that is
recognized also known as a threat. The risk assessments help a company to identify the main
hazards that can have a negative impact on a company's ability to conduct the business activities.
Furthermore, the risk assessments also help to identify the inherent business risks and provide
controls, measures, and processes for reducing the impact of the risks on the operations of the
business. There are a large number of companies across the globe that uses the risk assessment
framework for sharing and prioritizing the details of the assessment that contains any type of
risks with regards to the information technology structure. The chief risk officer mainly conducts
the entire process of the risk assessment. However, there are some of the important steps for
carrying out the risk assessment such as: Firstly, the identification of hazards is necessary, then
determining the individuals who can be harmed by the hazards, evaluating the particular risks
and developing proper control measures, recording the findings and updating and reviewing the
risk assessment on a regular basis. The entire project will be divided into a project proposal,
Annotated bibliography and risk assessment report.

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Project proposal
The company that is taken into account for the risk assessment is Deloitte. It has been
observed that Deloitte is present all across the globe. The location that is considered for this
study is Deloitte in U.S. and the address is 420 20th St N #2400, Birmingham, AL 35203, USA.
Deloitte is one of the best multinational corporations in the entire world and the founder of the
company is William Welch Deloitte and it is headquartered in London. The main services of
Deloitte are Audit, Legal, Management consulting, financial advisory, and Tax (Deloitte LLP Dr.
Patchin and Carey, 2012). As per the website of the company it can be said that Deloitte refers to
the brand under which the independent companies throughout the world collaborating to the
above-mentioned services (Bahr, 2014).
One of the key business areas of the Deloitte is technology. The key objectives of the
company are as follows. Firstly, in terms productivity improvements: The company aims in
maximizing the asset utilization and minimizing the downtime, managing the synchronization
and supply network costs, planning accuracy and stability, and driving the indirect and direct
labor efficiency. Secondly, in terms of the risk reduction: the company ensures the availability
and right price of the raw materials, managing warranty and mitigating the geographic risks.
Thirdly, in case of the incremental revenue: Deloitte find sources of growth for the core business,
the company also aims at deepening consumer insights and understanding. Lastly, one of the
main key objectives that are new revenue: The company, in this case, creates service and the
product offerings, identifies the opportunities that are quite attractive in nature and they are also
expanding their roots in the emerging markets (Hopkins, 2011).

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The main purpose of this proposal is the risk assessment in Deloitte. The research
methods are mainly the data analysis and data collection represents the main research methods.
The research methods that will be used in the study are the exploratory research and the
explanatory research (Covello and et al, 2013). The exploratory research is conducted mainly
when there are no or few earlier studies with regards to which the references can be made for the
information. In this study, the exploratory research will help to determine the best data-collection
method, research design, and selection of the certain subjects. A lot of methods such as
interviews, discussions, and other tactics are also used for gathering more information. On the
other hand, the explanatory research will be conducted for establishing the final result rather than
giving priority to the result. Moreover, it has been witnessed that the analytical approaches is
applicable for the all the stages in the entire research (Haimes, 2015). Throwing light on the
above-mentioned statement it can be said that there are three analytical research methods:
Grouping Analysis approach, Regression Analysis approach, and Multiple Equation Methods. It
can be also said that the particular research method that is chosen for a study completely depends
on the type of research that is aimed at carrying out. The research will also highlight the risk
assessment and the compliance risk assessment practice in the organization. The main aim of the
report will be directly focused on the main topic that is the risk assessment.
Annotated bibliography
Lavastre, O., Gunasekaran, A., and Spalanzani, A. (2012). Supply chain risk management in
French companies. Decision Support Systems, 52(4), 828-838.

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In this article, it has been highlighted that the risk thematic is not at all new in the world
of management but the risk assessment is one of the main elements and also a growing subject in
the supply chain management. The supply chain risk management plays an important role with
regards to identifying and managing the various processes that are related to a business in a
proactive manner. However, it has been also highlighted that the supply chain risk has a lot of
sources including supply, process, control, and demand. These are some of the risks that have
been identified faced by the supply chain management. Adequate responses, specific techniques,
right strategies are required by the management of the company. The entire study was based on
142 managers and the supply chain managers ranging from the 50 various French companies. It
has been concluded by the study that in order to be efficient and effective in the marketplace the
supply chain risk management must be included as one of the major management function in the
firm. The findings from the study also suggested that the supply chain risk management is
completely based on the collaboration.
Vilko, J. P., and Hallikas, J. M. (2012). Risk assessment in multimodal supply
chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(2), 586-595.
This particular article mainly argues about the disintegration and the complexity
emerging as the main challenge in the supply chain risk management segment. On the other
hand, it has been also mentioned that one of the most difficult tasks revolves around identifying
the risks in the operations of the supply chain as they are out of sight of the service providers and
hence they are less visible. It has been also said that the impact and the identification of the risks
mainly depends upon the position of the companies in the supply chain. The study also maps the
process and the structure and displayed a new framework for categorizing the risks with regards

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to the driver factors so that entire impact on the performance of the supply chain can be assessed.
In the final segment of the study, it has been observed that the risk impacts have been analyzed
in terms of delays in the entire supply chain.
Aloini, D., Dulmin, R., and Mininno, V. (2012). Risk assessment in ERP projects. Information
Systems, 37(3), 183-199.
This specific article provides a broad analysis of the present context of the risk
assessment in the ERP projects. It has been described in the study that the conducting the risk
assessment in the ERP projects is a task that is ambitious in nature. On the contrary, the ERP
projects are quite complicated in nature for the companies as there are a huge amount of risk
factors that are closely associated with it such as, psychological, technological, sociological and
technological aspects. Additionally, those factors are also closely interconnected and tend to
have effects that are indirect on the projects. These specific features make risk management more
complex in nature, and vital than in the projects that tend to be traditional especially it can be
observed in the assessment stage of the project. In this paper innovative technique is also used
for supporting the entire risk analysis in order to provide best, systematic and structured
understanding of the main relations among a lot of risk factors. The major application that has
been included in the study is the ISM application for allowing a systematic analysis and
evaluating the risks that are interdependent.
KarimiAzari, A., Mousavi, N., Mousavi, S. F., and Hosseini, S. (2011). Risk assessment model
selection in construction industry. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(8), 9105-9111.

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Karimi, Mousavi, and Hosseini argued that the construction industry face a lot of inherent
issues and uncertainties. This is such an industry that is plagued by the risk factor to a great
extent so the risk management plays a vital role in the decision making the process for the
companies that are working in the construction field. Risk assessment is the vital procedure with
regards to the risk management. Exploratory research has been greatly performed in this study as
it has been observed that a lot of practitioner and scholars gave insufficient attention to selecting
the risk model that is the most suitable. It has been also argued that there are a lot of factors, in
general, that affects this particular problem which adheres to uncertain and estimated data and
usually there are several individuals are completely involved in the entire selection process. The
study also provided a systematic and rational process for developing the best model under each
of the criteria of selection. The criteria for the decision are mainly is received from the normal
group technique. The proposed approach is also highlighted using a real case containing an
Iranian construction company.
Wang, X., Chan, H. K., Yee, R. W., and Diaz-Rainey, I. (2012). A two-stage fuzzy-AHP model
for risk assessment of implementing green initiatives in the fashion supply chain. International
Journal of Production Economics, 135(2), 595-606.
In this paper, it has been argued that the environmental concerns are drawing a lot of
attention both in the industry as well as in the academia. The proper risk assessment is an
absolute necessity in this matter as other approaches fail badly without identifying the risks in a
proper manner. In the fashion industry also there are a lot of challenges in the supply chain
process. Hence in this matter, a two-stage fuzzy-AHP model for the assessment of risk and a
numerical model have also been illustrated for showing how the model works.

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Risk Assessment Report
It can be said that the risk assessment is one of the topmost priority for the Deloitte.
Furthermore, the company thinks that the assessment of risk is mainly prioritizing and measuring
risks so that the levels of the risk can be managed in the organization. For accomplishing this
particular step a risk assessment that is sustainable, practical, and also easy to understand is
mostly required for all the companies. Deloitte also stated that for accomplishing the risk
assessment that is completely disciplined identification of the risks in a proper manner is an
absolute necessary for them to a great extent. Furthermore, the employee-wide risk management
is brand new concept and the application techniques have been progressing at an alarming rate
from the last decade.
Figure 1: Optimal risk taking

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The risk assessment process
The risk assessment process mainly follows the event identification and tends to precede
the response of the risk. One of the most vital purposes of the entire risk assessment process is to
judge how big the risk is both collectively and in an individual manner. On the other hand, the
risk assessment is about prioritizing and measuring the risks so that the levels of the risks can be
managed effectively within the tolerance thresholds that are defined without forgoing the
fascinating opportunities or over controlling the possible opportunities.
Risk identification
The identification is the first and most important steps in the entire risk assessment
process. It generally produces a list of risks and also at the same times some of the opportunities
are also produced. The risk category includes: Compliance, market, liquidity and also credit for
the capital projects, business units, and the corporate functions. At this particular stage, some of
the methods are used for knowing the nature of the risks. Each of the risks that has been
identified as well as captured is said to be quite important for the management at the business
unit level and at the function. Prioritization requires focusing senior management and board
attention on the main risks. However, the prioritization can be only accomplished when the entire
process of the risk assessment has been performed.
Developing risk assessment criteria
It is the first activity within the entire risk assessment process for developing a common
set of amassment criteria for implementing across the various business units, large capital
projects and corporate functions. The opportunities and risks are assessed in terms of likelihood

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and their impact. There are a lot of companies recognizes at a very early stage the utility of
evaluating the risk along extra dimensions such as the speed of onset and the exposure.
Figure 2: Assessing the risks
Assessing risks
It is the second step and it consists of assigning values to each and every opportunity and
risk using the detailed criteria. It may be accomplished in two stages where an introductory
screening is required with regards to the risks that needs to be performed using the qualitative
techniques that is followed by a lot of quantitative analysis of the most vital risks.
Assessing risk interactions
The companies need to understand the importance of managing the risk interactions in a
proper manner as the risks do not exists in speculation. On the other hand, it has been greatly
witnessed that the risks that is most insignificant in nature tend to have a lot of potential as they
interact with the conditions and events for creating significant opportunity and causing a huge
amount of damage (Suter II, 2016). Hence, the companies are moving forward the holistic view
of risks using a lot of techniques such as, bow-tie diagrams, risk interaction metrics and the
combined probability distributions.

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Prioritizing risks
The prioritization of risks is the entire process of identifying risk management priorities
by contrasting the level of risk against the predetermined target risk levels and tolerance
beginning. Furthermore, mainly the risk is not only viewed as in terms of the profitability and
financial impact but also it is the subjective criteria such as the safety and health impact,
vulnerability and the reputational impact to a great extent.
Responding to the risks
The results from the entire risk assessment process mainly distribute as the primary input
to the risk responses by which the response options are thoroughly examined, the cost benefit
analysis is performed and the risk response plan is developed in an efficient manner (Vinnem,
2013).
Developing assessment criteria
Developing proper risk assessment criteria will help the organization to tackle the proper
risk. The traditional risk analysis defines the risk as function of the impact and likelihood. It is
needless to say that the above-mentioned elements are the most vital measures.
Developing proper assessment scales
The measurement of risks is an absolute necessity and it has been witnessed that without
a standard comparison it is not possible at all to aggregate and compare the risks across the every
type of firms.
The scales for defining a risk by the most of the organization are done in terms of the
likelihood, impact and other dimensions. The above-mentioned scales involve definitions and

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rating levels that promote consistent interpretation and the applications by various types of
constituencies (Li, 2014). Furthermore, it has been greatly observed that if the scales tend to be
more descriptive in nature then it becomes quite easy for the users for interpretation. The scales
should acknowledge meaningful differentiation for prioritization and ranking purposes. It has
been already mentioned that there are a large number of scales: If the five point scales are used
by the companies then they will be benefited more than using the three point scale. The ten point
scale can be used qualitative analysis but they are unwarranted and they tend to also waste a lot
of time.
Asses risks
The risk assessment is mainly takes place in form of the two-stages. Initial screening of
the opportunities and the risks are performed using the qualitative techniques. Additionally, the
qualitative assessment comprises of assessing each and every opportunity and risks as per the
descriptive scales. On the other hand the quantitative analysis needs numerical values for both
likelihood and impact using data from different sources. Arguably, both quantitative and
qualitative techniques have some disadvantages as well as advantages (Cárdenas and et al, 2011).
Most of the companies undertake the qualitative assessments and develop quantitative abilities
over time as their decision-making needs command.
The scenario analysis of the observational analysis has been taken into account for this
study as it has been earlier mentioned because it is quite useful for the strategic planning. It also
helps in to define more than one risk. In case of Deloitte it has been observed that there has been
technological shift this year and about 15% volume decreased this year and in case of the supply
chain disruption also it has been observed that there has been 10% decrease in this segment.