The Effect of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) on Firm Performance: Evidence from the Diversified Industry of Sri Lanka

The objective of this empirical study is to explore the effect of the adoption of ERM on the performance of the diversified industry of Sri Lanka. The extent of the adoption of ERM is assessed based on eight ERM functions recognized by the ERM integrated framework of the committee of sponsoring organization of the Treadway Commission and use return on equity as a proxy to measure firm performance. This study finds ERM supportive internal environment, risk-aligned objective setting, event identifications, and risk response have a positive impact on firm performance. However, none of those impacts were statistically significant. Surprisingly, empirical evidence reveals that risk assessment and control activities have a negative impact on the firm performance. Information & communication and monitoring functions indicate a significant impact on firm performance. Nevertheless, monitoring function shows a negative impact on the firm performance. The researcher believes this negative impact is attributable to the increased cost of monitoring activities that is crucial for a diversified business setup. This empirical evidence induces the researcher to conclude that, except for communication and monitoring, the adoption of ERM has no significant impact on the firm performance. These findings are contradictory with the findings of prior researchers.