Home topics small-business-resources legal Legal Managing Legal How to protect your business from risk Tony Young August 10, 2012 In the first of the Small Business Success Professional Indemnity series GIO presents installment one: Risk Management: Protection of Small Business Enterprise. The role of an SMB business owner is wide-ranging and understated: CEO, general manager, accountant , human resources manager, and marketer. Without the luxuries afforded to a larger organisation – such as having a risk management team – small business owners need to self-manage all risk scenarios and shortcomings in-house. How they choose to navigate risk can be categorised using the AASR framework: 1. Accepting risk – recognising and living with the scenario of risk, or ‘gambling’; such as no insurance; 2. Avoiding risk – simply not undertaking risky aspects of a business; 3. Sharing risk – recognising risk but choosing to financially mitigate possible outcomes; such as investing in comprehensive business insurance; and 4. Reducing risk – putting procedures in place to reduce risk; such as installing safety signs in a hazard area. Chris Stallard, senior leader for the SME Porfolio for GIO Insurance, recently spoke with financial expert Peter Switzer (Switzer TV) about small business risk management and how owners can manage the level of risk in their organisation. The emphasis that he places on knowing what a risk is, relates back to recognising any potential negative factor which can ultimately cost the livelihood of the business. What is risk management? From the perspective of insurance, effective