Skip to main content

ERM Practicum

Author: Kaitlyn

ERM Practicum

As I stated earlier in the year, I took the Enterprise Risk Management course last semester and now I am experiencing the practicum. The practicum allows you to work with a company in groups of four or five students. You can either start an ERM process for the client if they have never done ERM or pick up with their current ERM process. Some companies have a well-developed ERM process in place and want to fine-tune it, while for other companies ERM is a new concept. In either case, the experience and soft skills you gain from doing the practicum is worthwhile.

Last semester, we studied the “circle”, which is the continuous process of ERM. The students in the practicum are starting somewhere within the circle with our designated organization. The circle includes the following:

  1. Business Model and Strategies
  2. Risk Identification
  3. Risk Assessment
  4. Risk Response
  5. Controls, Communication, and Monitoring

Through an extensive class last semester, we learned how to do each component. It does not seem difficult to assess the risks of a company for example, but once you begin working with a real company, you start to see the difficulties of it.

It is much easier to start the process of ERM from scratch than it is to pick up where an organization left off. This is because ERM is not always done the textbook way that we learned in class. All companies are unique and face their own unique risks. Luckily, the class offered at NC State allows you to do multiple case studies throughout the semester, each in different industries. This allows you to become familiar with the variety of risks that you will see and identify when you begin working with your client.

I’m halfway done with the practicum and I have loved my experience. I have got to run meetings with the CFO and the controller of the company, work in groups, and experience a real world application of what I have learned in class. It is also rewarding to know that the work I am doing is beneficial to the company. The ERM practicum is a win for both the students and the company.

More From Master of Accounting (MAC) Program