Risk management


As winter approaches the northern hemisphere, businesses face a real challenge. The global economy is in uncharted waters with instability across numerous domains. From supply chains to Covid, skills shortages to infl ationary pressures, today’s business is not certain of enjoying a happy tomorrow. Andrew Tunnicliffe speaks with Bavan Nathan, until recently the chief audit and risk offi cer at Tesco, about how the next few months are shaping up, and the biggest threat to future prosperity – a protracted energy crisis.


f the cost of living crisis wasn’t enough to keep customers at home, companies face a threat from within too: their own costs. Crippling energy prices are already pushing many to the brink, with a staggering rise in bankruptcies reported in the UK alone. According to the country’s Insolvency Service, 5,629 companies went bust across England and Wales between April and June 2022 – up 13% on the previous quarter


and an astonishing 81% on the same period last year. The government, for its part, has quickly blamed energy prices and staff shortages, adding that nine in ten of those insolvencies were voluntary. That may be so – but those 4,908 liquidations represent the largest amount in a single quarter since records began in 1960. It represents, in short, a bleak prelude to the coming winter months.


Risky business I


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Finance Director Europe / www.fi nancedirectoreurope.com


PopTika/Shutterstock.com


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