Drawing on insights from 331 organizations, the 17th edition of 2026 State of Risk Oversight: An Overview of Enterprise Risk Management Practices examines how leaders are responding to an increasingly complex risk environment.
The report distills survey findings into nine essential themes, including board oversight, risk management maturity, and integration with strategy. The report also highlights differences across large, public, financial, and not-for-profit organizations.
Inside the report you will discover:
Benchmarking data
Current trends in risk oversight and risk management maturity
Practical guidance for strengthening risk management effectiveness
Questions to support leadership and board discussions
Explore insights, diagnostic questions, and discussion prompts to cultivate more effective risk oversight in your organization.
About the authors
Mark S. Beasley, CPA, Ph.D., and Bruce C. Branson, Ph.D., serve in leadership positions within the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Initiative at North Carolina State University.
The ERM Initiative provides thought leadership about ERM practices and their integration with strategy and corporate governance. Faculty in the ERM Initiative frequently work with boards of directors and senior management teams, helping them link ERM to strategy and governance.
Mark S. Beasley, CPA, Ph.D., is the Alan T. Dickson Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Director of the ERM Initiative at NC State University. He specializes in the study of enterprise risk management, corporate governance, financial statement fraud, and the financial reporting process. He completed over seven years of service as a board member of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and has served on other national-level task forces related to risk management issues. He also recently served as a member of the United Nation’s Internal Control Advisory Group. He consults with boards and senior executive teams on risk governance issues, is a frequent speaker at national and international levels, and has published over 100 articles, research monographs, books, and other thought-related publications. He earned his Ph.D. at Michigan State University.
Bruce C. Branson, Ph.D., is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Associate Director of the ERM Initiative in the Poole College of Management at NC State University. His teaching and research is focused on enterprise risk management and financial reporting and includes an interest in the use of derivative securities and other hedging strategies for risk reduction/risk sharing. He also has examined the use of various forecasting and simulation tools to form expectations used in financial statement audits and in earnings forecasting research. He earned his Ph.D. at Florida State University.