IT Governance and the Maturity of IT Risk Management Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Securities and Exchange Commission's enhanced disclosure rule on risk oversight, state laws requiring public disclosure of compromised customer information, and high-profile customer information breaches have caused Information Technology (IT) risk management practices to be a major concern for boards of directors and management. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission's (COSO) Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework emphasizes the importance of the board's oversight role while also bringing attention to the firm's reporting structure. Consequently, our study examines whether the maturity of IT risk management practices depends on Chief Information Officer (CIO) reporting structure and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chairman duality. We develop a scale to measure strategic and operational maturity under the larger auspice of IT risk management and distribute a survey to high-level IT professionals. Our survey also captures the reporting structure of their firms. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that the maturity of strategic IT risk management practices are higher when the CIO reports directly to the CEO. However, contrary to expectations, we do not find that operational risk management is more mature when the CIO reports to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Instead, operational risk management is higher when the CIO reports to the CEO. For public firms, the maturity of IT risk management practices are higher when the CEO is also the chairman of the board of directors. As C-level officers may have asymmetric access to the board, understanding reporting structures may inform firms, regulators, and interested stakeholders on how well IT risk is managed and factors that affect IT governance.