1. Discuss methods that could be applied at BFC to identify and evaluate BFC’s exposure to loss. (15%)

Task Borrow Furniture Company (BFC) is a medium-sized chain of retail and wholesale furniture stores in the UK. Mr Collins is the area risk manager of BFC and his duty is to identify, assess, and manage the potential risks that may adversely affect the sales, safety, security, and financial health of the organisation. It is widely accepted that an organisation should define and identify all types of risk that an organisation faces, set the amount of uncertainty that an organisation is willing to take, implement effective risk control measures to reduce the impact on risk, and transfer unwanted risks to limit loss exposure. While identifying the main financial risks facing the furniture stores, Mr Collins is also aware of other risks that may cause severe business disruptions and subsequent loss of revenue. In practice, he is also aware that it could be very difficult to identify and analyse the overall risk faced by his organisation. Mr Collins intends to assess the various types of risk in order to prioritise which risks should have a formalized risk management procedure, which will include the probability of occurrence and the severity of potential loss. Insurance is regarded as the most well-known way of handling risk. However, Mr Collins is not convinced that the purchase of insurance is the most effective and economic way of managing risk. You are required to critically discuss the following issues in your report.

1. Discuss methods that could be applied at BFC to identify and evaluate BFC’s exposure to loss. (15%)

2. Discuss the relevance of risk management philosophy and discuss whether incorporating such a philosophy at BFC will benefit the company in the long run in meeting corporate objectives. (20%)

3. Discuss the rationale of risk retention and the positive and negative effect of risk retention on BFC. (25%)

4. Advise Mr Collins on how to efficiently and effectively use insurance as a method of transferring risk and critically evaluate whether insurance is the most effective method of managing risk. (25%)