Time to Talk: Managing your organisation's risk exposure within its financial means

Tuesday 14 January 

10:00-11:00

This event is for CFOs and FDs only.  If your CFO/FD would like you to attend in their place, please contact Gill

These are challenging times for the sector. In 2021-22, one in four UK universities reported an operating deficit, and these institutions face a choice of whether to use their unrestricted reserves to fund the shortfall, or to access alternative finance.  

There is varying access to finance across the sector to mitigate the liquidity risk. For many, future economic constraints and weaker financial performance could further limit the availability of affordable borrowing options.  

When unrestricted reserves are required to fund shortfalls, there are no guarantees that reserves are held in assets with appropriate liquidity. If insufficient liquid assets are held in reserve, it may result in disposal of assets at suboptimal rates of return. If the overall quantity of assets is insufficient the university will become insolvent. Therefore, universities need to maintain sufficient quality and quantity of unrestricted reserves to provide confidence that they will continue to be financially viable despite unforeseen risks.  

Universities need to manage their capital according to their exposure to shocks and their financial strength; considering when capital contingency actions should be taken, when austerity measures should be implemented and when a spend culture should be adopted to take advantage of opportunities.  

The question is: “How do you manage the exposure to financial pressures of an institution to provide confidence of ongoing financially viability despite limited access to finance and whilst in a time of considerable uncertainty?” 

In this webinar, Charmaine Leech of RCG consulting, and Paul Kendrick (CFO) and his team from Coventry University, will talk about the implementation of the risk-based solvency regime employed to ensure the exposure to risk is managed within Coventry’s financial means, and how this might apply to the rest of the sector. 

This process includes: 

• “Expanding” going concern assessment to cover unforeseen risks 

• Creating an assurance map to scope “known and reasonably knowable risk events” 

• Modelling the financial uncertainties through quantitative risk assessment 

• Determining overall sufficiency of financial resources, on both a current and forward-looking basis 

• Developing and implement a capital management policy  

• Operating ongoing intelligent risk management 

This event will not be recorded.