What is the role of a risk manager?

Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and controlling risks that could impact an organisation’s financial stability, operations, compliance, or reputation. These risks may come from internal processes, external market changes, regulatory requirements, or operational failures.

In practice, risk management helps organisations make safer, more informed decisions by putting controls in place to reduce uncertainty and prevent losses. It is a core function in industries such as financial services, insurance, consulting, energy, public sector, and large corporate environments.

A risk manager is responsible for identifying potential risks to a business and ensuring they are effectively managed or mitigated. This includes analysing risk exposure, developing risk frameworks, and working with different departments to implement controls.

Risk managers often monitor compliance with internal policies and external regulations, particularly in highly regulated industries such as financial services. They also produce reports for senior leadership to support strategic decision-making.

In larger organisations, risk managers may specialise in areas such as operational risk, financial risk, compliance risk, or enterprise risk management.

Yes, risk management is highly suitable for students who enjoy analytical thinking and structured problem-solving. The role involves assessing complex situations, identifying potential issues, and recommending practical solutions.

Rather than working with routine tasks, risk professionals deal with real-world uncertainty and must evaluate how different decisions could impact a business. This makes it a strong fit for students interested in logic, analysis, and decision-making.

Organisations typically manage several key categories of risk:

• Financial risk – losses due to markets, credit, or liquidity issues
• Operational risk – failures in processes, systems, or human error
• Compliance risk – failure to meet legal or regulatory requirements
• Strategic risk – poor business decisions or changing market conditions
• Cyber / information risk – data breaches and security threats

Most risk roles involve understanding how these risks overlap and affect overall business performance.

Risk managers are employed across a wide range of industries, including:

• Banking and financial services
• Insurance
• Consulting firms
• Government and public sector
• Energy and utilities
• Large multinational corporations

Regulated industries such as financial services and the public sector typically offer the largest number of structured graduate and entry-level risk roles.

Yes, accounting students are strong candidates for risk management careers. Skills gained in accounting such as financial analysis, attention to detail, understanding controls, and regulatory awareness are highly transferable.

Many professionals enter risk through graduate schemes or trainee business analyst or finance trainee roles after studying accounting, finance, or economics at university or via a professional qualification , such as the ACCA squalification.  Financial services firms in particular actively recruit accounting graduates into risk and control functions.

Many professionals begin careers in risk management through graduate schemes, trainee business analyst roles, or entry-level finance trainee programmes after studying accounting, finance, or economics at university, or completing professional qualifications such as the ACCA Qualification. Financial services organisations, including banks and insurance companies, actively recruit accounting graduates into risk management, compliance, and internal control roles.

Key skills for a career in risk management include:

• Analytical and critical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Strong communication and stakeholder management
• Understanding of financial and business processes
• Data interpretation and reporting
• Familiarity with Excel and analytical tools

As roles progress, knowledge of regulatory frameworks and risk modelling may also become important.

Regulation plays a major role in risk management, especially in industries like banking and insurance. Risk professionals must ensure that organisations comply with legal and regulatory standards such as capital requirements, reporting obligations, and governance frameworks.

Regulatory changes often drive new risk processes, making risk management a dynamic and evolving career area. Active partnership with compliance auditing and management accounting teams is a key part of the role.

Experience in risk management can lead to a wide range of career paths, including:

• Senior risk analyst
• Chief risk officer (CRO)
• Compliance auditor/manager
• Internal audit
• External audit
• Financial control or governance roles
• Strategy or transformation roles

Risk experience is highly transferable and is often used as a stepping stone into senior leadership, such as partner or CFO, or advisory positions.