Guide · International body
From Guidance to Action: Exploring Practical Enterprise Risk Management
Enterprise risk management often produces more documents than decisions: COSO proposes ten practices so that ERM influences the strategy of any organization.
- Organization
- Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)
- Document date
- 4 May 2026
- Type
- Guide
- Language
- English
- Scope
- International
- Length
- 36 pages
- Authorship
- Ryan Luttenton, Stefany Samp and Alexa Stone (Crowe LLP)
What it contains
COSO published this document on 4 May 2026, commissioned from Crowe LLP, to help organizations improve the strategic relevance and real-world impact of their enterprise risk management (ERM) programs. It builds on the 2017 COSO ERM framework, a global survey of risk leaders and interviews with executives across industries and regions. Its starting point is that many programs generate heat maps and long lists of risks, but do not help choose between options or trigger action in time.
The survey results show the implementation gap: 98 % of participants believe ERM should play a more strategic role, 54 % say their program is seen mostly as a compliance or assurance function, 28 % as a strategic partner and only 7 % have it fully integrated into strategy decisions. The document proposes linking strategy and risk while options remain, proving value through two lanes, protection and creation, and translating the framework into a working system, with a practitioner guide and industry examples.
The guidance ends with ten quick-start behaviors: link strategy and risk, treat value creation as a required outcome, make risk appetite usable, manage risk as a portfolio, prioritize decisions over documentation, measure value and not activity, run governance as a behavior system, embed ERM in operating rhythms, build candor as a capability and learn continuously. Each includes concrete actions to get started. It is meant for organizations across industries and regions. It is a COSO document protected by copyright, so it is linked and not reproduced.
Why it matters for risk management
It is a practical guide for companies in any sector that want to move from documenting risks to deciding with them: useful risk appetite, risks as a portfolio and board reports that ask for decisions. It complements the management frameworks that financial institutions already use and can be a starting point for real-sector companies that are building their risk function. The survey findings are from COSO and Crowe and are not broken down for the Dominican Republic.
Resumen elaborado por el Club de Gestión de Riesgos de la República Dominicana a partir de la lectura del documento original, con fuente verificada el 18 de octubre de 2026. No sustituye la lectura del texto oficial ni constituye asesoría.
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