KPMG LLP has issued guidance for company boards on how to respond to the risk and resilience challenges that organizations will face through 2026.
‘Disruption, volatility, and uncertainty will continue to test board agendas in 2026,’ says KPMG, ‘upending the assumptions that have long driven corporate thinking.’
The guidance highlights and discusses seven areas where boards will need to adapt their current position and provide clear governance.
‘The board’s role in helping provide big-picture context — from business model disruption risk to the impact of AI on the workforce — will be more important than ever to the company’s decisions and direction,’ states the guidance.
The seven areas are:
- Reassess the board’s engagement in strategy—particularly scenario planning, agility, crisis planning, and resilience.
- Understand the company’s AI strategy and related risks and opportunities, and closely monitor the governance structure and talent/workforce needs around the deployment and use of the technology.
- Consider the adequacy of the company’s data governance framework and processes.
- Assess whether the company’s cybersecurity governance framework and processes are keeping pace.
- Keep material sustainability issues embedded in risk and strategy discussions, and monitor management’s preparations for sustainability reporting requirements as well as shareholder expectations.
- Sustain a healthy board-CEO relationship.
- Revisit board and committee risk oversight responsibilities and allocation among committees.
