Enterprise Risk Management and Management Accounting Systems in a Mutual Credit Cooperative Bank
In the last years, it is acknowledged a growing perception of risk. A direct consequence is the increasing of a generalized legislation with peaks in the financial industry. Laws, practices and perceptions shape the concepts of risk and risk management up to the recent integrated and holistic risk management framework (i.e. ERM). Moving from the literature that investigates how ERM integrates the management accounting systems (MAS), the paper investigates the relationships between ERM and MAS and how these relationships affect the decision-making processes in an Italian Cooperative Bank, Banca of Alba. The results point out some factors that make effective the integration between ERM and MAS at Banca of Alba. First, the presence of process owners who guide the integration and who receive a full commitment from the top managers. Second, an IT system that supports the needs of users, and third, a corporate culture in which all the members are aware of the intrinsic meaning of information for decisions and the related risks. These factors favor the integration of ERM and MAS stimulating a high interest of users. Managers adopt the integrated information for the daily decision-making.
Keywords: Enterprise Risk Management, Management Accounting Systems, Bank
