I’ve never been a very keen gambler. The occasional office sweepstake for the Grand National is the limit of my daring. I just hate losing money on things outside my control. 

Gambling with someone else’s money (see what I did there) would be even more scary I think. I spoke at a conference the other day hosted by Armstrong Watson Accountants, alongside Xyone cyber security specialists. It was pointed out that law firms are like mini banks, but without the security. It’s one of the reasons that more than ever law firms are under attack from these new-fangled cyber criminals. You’re probably yawning right now- “Not another hacking blog?” but no!! Grab yourself a coffee because I think we need to talk in a more broad sense about ‘Risk’.

After the strange global occurrences of 2016…Brexit…Trump…Leicester winning the title…Ed Balls on Strictly…it seems that we live in very uncertain times. It’s never easy to predict what is going to happen with 100% certainty, however putting the right measures in place can provide a solid yet agile basis to withstand risks while enabling your business to still remain highly functional.

This is all inspired (as many things are) by a business lunch- this time with Jake Fox (an independent Insurance broker of some note!). I mentioned the ‘mini-bank’ anecdote to Jake and we agreed that more than ever, a firm must pay close attention to its risk profile. As Jake pointed out, it’s crucial to look at it from the perspective of Professional Indemnity insurers. The insurer is quoting you a premium based on how risky they think your practice is and that relates to much more than just cyber threat. They will consider your previous track record of claims for negligence, the strength of the sector you operate in, the accuracy of your accounts procedures, your history of compliance with the SRA, the robustness of your IT systems for resilience as well as security, and the general quality of your people- both those within your organisation and those providing services externally.

Over the next couple of months we will explore ways to combat risk, and you’ll be relieved to hear that I’ll be roping in some far more qualified friends to provide guest articles around the subject. We will have Business Continuity specialists, cyber geeks, Compliance gurus, all augmenting some hopefully informative content from us around best/safe practice cashiering, and how better quality management account information supports decisions on business strategy.

So as we look ahead to what may be a turbulent 2017 I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Risk-free New Year.

 

Alex Holt
Director of Business Development at The Cashroom Ltd

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