Implementing effective risk management

For businesses like Luminus, risk management is essential, particularly within the energy sector, which has been subject to a great deal of uncertainty in recent years. By proactively identifying and managing these risks, this major player in the Belgian energy sector can reduce potential threats to the continuity of its operations, preserve its financial stability, and take advantage of opportunities that may arise. 

With effective risk management, Luminus reacts flexibly to unforeseen circumstances, and maintains a competitive edge. How did BDO experts help enhance the risk management of this leader in energy transition? How was the project prepared and implemented? How did Luminus experience collaborating with BDO? 

Both a catalyst and an opportunity 

“Regardless of the sector in which they are operating, organisations have recently been exposed to an increasingly volatile environment. Various risks can prevent them from achieving their objectives, whether strategic, operational or financial in nature. In such an environment, it is essential to surround yourself with specialists who can implement a system capable of managing these different risks beyond the simple protection of company value. The aim is also to take advantage of new opportunities that may arise in an unpredictable environment. Last year, our BDO team helped Luminus develop such a system, to better anticipate and react to these diverse internal and external risks. This is still an ongoing process.”
Nicolas Renard Partner Risk Advisory at BDO Belgium.

Julien Doyard CEO Luminus

“The crises in recent years, whether Covid-19 or the energy crisis, have served as both catalysts and opportunities. We realised that our organisation sometimes lacked the reactivity and vigilance needed to successfully detect and address strategic and operational risks. We were well organised to identify these risks, but not all Luminus employees had realised that they were already day-to-day actors in risk management.”
Julien DoyardCFO at Luminus

Anticipating risks 

Nicolas Linotte, Director of Risks and Audit at Luminus, adds: “In consultation with the BDO experts, our aim was to put in place a solid and sustainable risk management plan. Our primary objective was to enable all our business lines to be proactive about risks, in order to react quickly and appropriately. We also wanted to increase our level of maturity in risk management for each of the risk categories to which we are exposed. Anticipating both internal and external uncertainties has become a major focus for the different teams at Luminus.”

In line with company values 

“With BDO, we wanted to change the risk culture within our company. Our aim was not to put obstacles in the way of our employees in their day-to-day work, but rather to put in place a  structure enabling the widest possible dissemination of a risk culture. We wanted everyone to be aware of their role in the process. We also wanted to integrate the concept of effective risk management even more deeply into our company values, along with 'Customer First', 'Entrepreneurship' and 'All Together',” Julien continues. 

BDO’s attractive value proposition 

Nicolas Linotte explains how the collaboration with BDO came about. “We compared BDO’s proposal with those of other firms. They all may have seemed similar at first sight, however two aspects of BDO's proposition specifically caught our attention. Firstly, it included the practical implementation of the risk management system using concrete methodologies and tools. Secondly, the support offered to our team was long-term in nature, starting with an initial duration of six months. This proved to be necessary for a project of this scale.”

“This new risk management project was not our first time collaborating with BDO”, continues Julien Doyard. “Luminus and BDO have already been working together for several years on other projects, in areas such as financial management and internal audit. So, we were already familiar with the multidisciplinary and practical approach of BDO experts.”  

Simple and pragmatic tools  

So what do Luminus leaders think of their collaboration with BDO on this project? Nicolas Linotte explains, “Our collaboration went perfectly well. I particularly appreciated BDO's ability to provide us with simple, pragmatic tools adapted to our objective. We could always count on the extra support of their specialists, who proactively coordinated amongst each other to offer the people best able to help us.” 

“For some specific aspects of risk management, we lacked the necessary in-house expertise,” adds Julien Doyard. “Thanks to BDO’s support, we were able to fill these gaps.” 

Positive results 

What are the results brought by this collaboration so far? Nicolas Linotte lists some of them. “We designed a tool enabling us to identify the inherent risks to our projects and address them. We rolled out also a training programme adapted to the various roles within Luminus. As a result, we have now a platform to better understand the risks related to our activities and facilitate internal discussions on risk management. The implementation of new methodologies, particularly for the identification, assessment and reporting of risks, enables us to strengthen our internal knowledge of risk management.” 

Are you wondering how effective risk management can contribute to the success of your organisation? 

Click here or contact one of the experts at BDO.