The risk register – integrating strategy, risk- and performance management: A case of the Tshwane University of Technology.
Pretorius, Cindy
Pretorius, Cindy
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
Since October 2015, South African higher education institutions have faced continuous student protests, mainly for free higher education. On 16 December 2017, the former president of South Africa announced that free higher education would be provided for poor and working-class students as from 2018, despite the Heher Commission reporting there is no capacity for the South African government to provide free higher education. Free higher education is increasing the burden on the already constrained resources of South African higher education institutions, particularly the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). To assist TUT to improve the performance of the constrained resources to react to the increased challenges faced, an effective management tool is required without investing additional resources. Therefore, this management tool must preferably be an existing tool used by TUT. The risk register is an existing risk management tool used by TUT, but has the characteristics to be used as a performance management tool as it includes TUT’s strategic objectives, risks that could prevent TUT from achieving the objectives, measures (controls) implemented to prevent the risks from occurring, and the staff (control owners) responsible for the measure. If the measures (controls) are effectively implemented and managed by the control owners, strategic objectives should be achieved. The internal audit function independently evaluates the effectiveness of controls. This study’s primary research objective was therefore to establish how the management of the eight TUT campuses uses the risk register to achieve strategic
objectives, manage risk and assess performance. The study commenced with a detailed literature review on strategy, risk- and performance management to establish whether the risk registers indeed have the characteristics of a management tool. This was followed by an inspection of the risk registers used within the different TUT environments to determine whether the risk registers are duly populated. With the insight provided by the literature review and
inspection of the risk registers, a structured questionnaire was designed to be completed by TUT management members. The questionnaire aimed to:
• Establish the current use of the risk register within the different TUT environments;
• Determine whether there are any other management tools in use within the different
TUT environments; and
• Determine how often internal auditors evaluate the effectiveness of the controls
within the different TUT environments.
At the time of the study, a total of 252 TUT management members were invited to participate in the structured questionnaire, and 127 TUT management members ultimately completed it (50% response rate). The outcome of this structured
questionnaire provided insight into TUT management members’ understanding of risk and their reasons for populating and referring to the risk register while executing their day-to-day responsibilities. Furthermore, the results of this study have provided a deeper understanding of the current use of the risk register within South African higher education institutions, specifically within TUT. In addition, the results provide useful insights to higher education institutions’ management, internal audit practitioners, academia and researchers.
Description
Submitted to the Faculty of Economics and Finance for the degree Magister Technologiae in Internal Auditing in the Faculty of Economics and Finance
at the Tshwane University of Technology
Date
2021-07-21
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tshwane University of Technology
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Risk management, Risk register, Strategic objectives, Internal audit, Management tool, Performance management