Instant Risk Universe Generator for Heads of Audit & Startup Boards

Purpose

This free browser-based tool helps new Heads of Internal Audit and fast-moving boards rapidly assess key business risks, and to determine what their risk universe will be. Whether you’re entering a new company or building governance from scratch, the Risk Radar gets you from zero to insight in 15 minutes—no installation, no data sharing.

Who This Is For

  • New Heads of Internal Audit joining unfamiliar sectors or geographies
  • Startup and scale-up boards looking to get a grip on risk without bureaucracy
  • Governance leads needing quick wins to present to investors or regulators

Key Features

1. Interactive Risk Diagnostic for Internal Audits and Board Reviews

  • Short Q&A to assess business context (sector, tech, regulation)
  • Output: Top 10 risks + tailored Risk Universe
  • Based on standard risk categories (Strategic, Operational, Financial, etc.)
  • Tailored for fast-paced startup environments
  • Helps Boards meet governance best practices without hiring a full team
  • Designed to support Internal Audit onboarding and strategic reviews

2. Import / Export

  • Accepts: .json, .csv, .md (with YAML frontmatter)
  • Export as:
    • JSON (app state / reuse)
    • Markdown (board-ready report)
    • CSV (Excel-friendly)

3. Local Execution

  • Entirely client-side: powered by Pyodide
  • No data leaves the browser
  • Optional localStorage persistence

Stay Sharp on Startup Governance

Subscribe to the Lines of Defence newsletter for more tools, playbooks, and no-nonsense advice for risk leaders and forward-thinking boards.

Join the newsletter


Data Models (Draft)

Risk Object (JSON schema)

{
  "id": "risk_001",
  "title": "Regulatory Compliance Failure",
  "category": "Compliance Risk",
  "likelihood": "High",
  "impact": "Severe",
  "controls": ["Policy Review", "Regulatory Training"]
}

Markdown Export (Example)

---
title: Risk Universe Report
generated: 2025-05-01
context: Payment Services Provider
---

## Top Risks

1. **Regulatory Compliance Failure**  
2. **Cybersecurity Threats**  
3. **Third-Party Dependence**  

## Risk Heatmap

| Risk                         | Likelihood | Impact  |
|------------------------------|------------|---------|
| Data Breach                  | High       | Severe  |
| Payment Processor Outage     | Medium     | High    |

Import Mapping (Planned)

  • Allow mapping CSV headers to internal fields
  • Support for simple column matching (e.g. “Risk Name” → title)
  • Auto-tagging based on keywords (e.g. “AML” → Compliance Risk)

Why Pyodide?

  • No backend required
  • Runs offline after load
  • Python ecosystem (pandas, regex, JSON/YAML parsing)

MVP Scope

✅ Risk Diagnostic
✅ Top Risk Generator
✅ JSON/Markdown Export
🟡 CSV Import
🟡 Local File Upload
❌ Risk Scoring Tuning
❌ Team Collaboration


Stack

  • Pyodide (Python in the browser)
  • Vanilla JS (for file handling)
  • Bootstrap or Tailwind UI (TBD)

Future Features

  • Upload past audit reports (PDF, XLSX) → auto-tag risks
  • User profile storage (e.g. save multiple orgs)
  • Export to audit plan format
  • Heatmap visualisation (in-browser)

Want to Collaborate?

This is an open development project. If you’re a risk practitioner or developer who wants to help, get in touch or follow updates via the newsletter below, or bookmark this page.


Status: In Development
Maintainer: Lines of Defence