Evolving Practices in Enterprise Risk Management at the Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury with a mission to “provide America’s taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.” The IRS’s central role in government and its high visibility make ERM critical because the stakes of failure are much higher than for many other organizations. To meet the challenge of addressing risk in a large organization with diverse business units, the IRS built a world-class ERM program that drives a strong culture of risk awareness in decision making. In January of 2021, APQC interviewed Thomas Brandt, chief risk officer, about the organization’s ERM program. This case study shares insights about:

• the structure and scope of ERM at the IRS;
• the organization’s ERM processes and practices;
• how the team drives a culture of ERM across the organization; and
• how the organization measures the success of its ERM program.