Gunnar Wahlström

Usefulness of enterprise risk management in two banks

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the management control system, the bank’s control package, influences opinion about the usefulness of risk measurement (RM) in different control contexts before and after a financial crisis, to understand what influences the usefulness of enterprise risk management (ERM) manifested in RM. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on semi-structured interviews in 2000-2010, with senior bank managers of two international banks (Bank A and Bank B) – both ranking among the top 100 in the world but differing structurally and culturally. Findings The two banks took opposite trajectories. Bank A went from high to low expectations of usefulness; Bank B went from low to high expectations. The different attitudes toward RM exhibited by Bank A and Bank B are explained by differences in their control packages, manifested by technocratic control and socio-ideology. Originality/value This study reveals that there are not merely different degrees of RM usage in the two banks but that they also show two diverting trajectories. Given this finding, the significance of the organization structure and its control packages (especially the alignment between these two factors) is analyzed to find a plausible explanation for the different experiences of senior managers toward the usefulness of RM. This study contributes to ERM research and to the contingency theory of management accounting.

Failed crisis communication: the Northern Rock Bank case

Purpose - Although granted funding from government agencies, Britain’s Northern Rock (NR) Bank experienced a depositors’ bank run in 2007. The purpose of this paper is to explore bank managers’ and the Triparties’ communications, in their failed attempt to reassure depositors during the crisis. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on content analysis of information given to depositors by bank managers and the Triparties via mass media. The theoretical concepts of rituals and masking were utilized. Findings - Results suggest that nonfinancial reporting supersedes financial reporting. Rather than hidden losses, bank regulators’ and politicians’ discussions of emergency funding for NR was the crucial incident signaling “something going on.” Even positive statements by prominent organizational actors may have signaled serious problems that compromised NR’s “business as usual” stance. Practical implications - Collective action manifested in a bank run is triggered by reasons other than numbers in financial reporting. The research results indicate a need to consider how regulatory authorities act during financial crises. Originality/value - Previous studies concluded that sensegivers must be consistent in framing communication to sensemakers. Sensemaking requires that the crisis communication is also consistent in the sensemakers’ framing. Because it is difficult for sensegivers to reshape the collective sensemakers’ frame, successful crisis communication requires that sensegivers change their communication to match the sensemakers’ frame, including symbolic actions. Additionally, a bank run is characterized first by loss of trust in financial reporting; second, in nonfinancial reporting; and, finally, in the sensegiving actor: a domino effect.

Meetings between analysts and corporate managers in Sweden: why do they exist?

The purpose of this article is, from the perspective of the financial analyst working in Sweden, to explain why financial analysts and managers hold private meetings. In the study, 25 financial analysts have been interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The findings reveal that the primary determinant of the fair value of a business and/or its shares or stock is based on the gut feeling of financial analysts. This, in turn, is based on years of experience, knowledge about the company, industry specialisations and so forth. Financial quantification achieved by the application of models and statistics plays a minor role and although it is not used for determining valuations, it does have applications in terms of rationalising, validating and justifying valuation assessment. To bolster their gut feelings analysts need person-to-person meetings with corporate managers. Both parties use such meetings to influence valuation assessment.