Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) study plan
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Enterprise Risk Management
Define enterprise risk management in your own words and map its core components (governance, risk appetite, culture, and reporting) into a one-page concept map
Distinguish ERM from siloed or traditional risk management by listing at least five concrete differences with examples
Explain how risk appetite and risk tolerance relate, and identify who sets each within an organization
Identify the primary frameworks and standards governing ERM and state the purpose of each without relying on notes
Your checkpoint
A one-page ERM concept map plus a 10-term glossary written from memory and corrected against source material
Enterprise Risk Management
Describe how risk governance structures (board, risk committee, CRO, business units) divide responsibilities and escalate issues
Analyze the role of culture and incentives in shaping risk-taking behavior, using at least two hypothetical scenarios
Evaluate how risk appetite statements are translated into limits and delegated authorities across business lines
Compare at least three ERM maturity models and select criteria you would use to assess an organization's maturity
Your checkpoint
A 400-word written analysis recommending governance and culture improvements for a fictional mid-sized firm, with an explicit risk appetite statement
Enterprise Risk Management
Trace how risk identification feeds into assessment, treatment, monitoring, and reporting as a continuous cycle
Classify risks into strategic, operational, financial, and compliance categories and justify each placement
Assess how emerging and systemic risks differ from conventional risks and why standard registers handle them poorly
Design the contents of a risk register, including owners, indicators, and escalation triggers
Your checkpoint
A completed 15-row risk register for a fictional company, with categories, owners, ratings, and at least three key risk indicators
Enterprise Risk Management & Risk Management and Modeling
Explain how ERM outputs connect to strategy setting, capital allocation, and performance management
Identify the data, systems, and reporting infrastructure needed to sustain ERM monitoring
Summarize the main quantitative modeling approaches at a conceptual level and note where each fits
Diagnose common ERM implementation failure points, such as weak sponsorship or register fatigue, and propose countermeasures
Your checkpoint
A two-page ERM program design brief covering governance, process, data, and reporting, plus a 20-question self-test scored at 80% or higher
Risk Management and Modeling
Distinguish risk, uncertainty, volatility, and exposure, and apply each term correctly in written examples
Compute and interpret expected value, variance, standard deviation, and correlation for a small dataset
Explain the difference between qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative risk assessment and when each is appropriate
Describe how probability distributions and confidence levels are used to express risk estimates
Your checkpoint
A worked problem set of 10 calculations (expected value, standard deviation, correlation, and percentile estimates) with written interpretations of each result
Risk Management and Modeling
Explain value at risk, expected shortfall, stress testing, and scenario analysis, and state the limitations of each
Interpret the output of a Monte Carlo simulation and identify the assumptions that drive its results
Apply sensitivity and scenario techniques to a hypothetical portfolio or project and compare the resulting risk estimates
Evaluate model risk, including input quality, calibration, and overreliance on a single model
Your checkpoint
A simulation-based risk assessment memo for a hypothetical portfolio, reporting VaR and expected shortfall at two confidence levels with a limitations section
Risk Management and Modeling
Describe how credit, market, liquidity, and operational risks are measured and which techniques suit each
Explain how hedging, diversification, insurance, and limits transfer or reduce risk, and note the residual risk each leaves
Connect risk modeling outputs to capital adequacy, limit setting, and risk-adjusted performance measures
Identify the behavioral and governance pitfalls of relying on quantitative models alone
Your checkpoint
A risk treatment plan for the week-6 portfolio specifying at least four mitigation tools, the residual risk after each, and the metric used to monitor it
Enterprise Risk Management & Risk Management and Modeling
Integrate domain 1 and domain 2 concepts by writing a full ERM cycle for one organization from appetite through modeled reporting
Complete timed practice sets across both domains and review every missed item to its underlying concept
Recite from memory the key definitions, formulas, and framework elements most likely to be tested
Build a personal error log and a final one-page review sheet covering weak areas
Your checkpoint
A full-length timed mock exam completed under test conditions, with a scored review sheet showing at least 80% overall and every missed item traced to a corrected concept
Milestones
Week 2: Score 80% or higher on a 20-question self-quiz covering ERM definitions, governance, and risk appetite, without notes
Week 4: Explain the end-to-end ERM process aloud in under five minutes and submit the program design brief; score 80% or higher on the combined domain 1 self-test
Week 6: Correctly complete 8 of 10 quantitative problems on the first attempt and explain the assumptions behind each model used
Week 8: Achieve 80% or higher on a full-length timed mock exam spanning both domains, with no domain below 70%