BANI: A New Risk Lens for Internal Auditors - I
Part I: When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World
Risk no longer behaves as expected. Traditional models built on stability, linear cause-and-effect, and predictability are increasingly unable to explain today’s disruptions. For Internal Audit, this creates a critical challenge: how to assess risk, resilience, and assurance in an environment where systems break suddenly, human behaviour amplifies shocks, and outcomes defy logic.
Part I of this two-part series introduces a new way of making sense of uncertainty through the BANI framework—Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible. Building on and contrasting with VUCA, this film explains why familiar risk lenses fall short and how Internal Audit can adapt its thinking, risk identification, and assessment practices.
Learn the most important insights in 10 concise chapters:
1. Why Internal Auditors Need a New Lens on Risk
2. From Stability to Turbulence: How the Risk Environment Has Changed
3. VUCA Explained: What It Gave Us and Where It Falls Short
4. The Origins of BANI: A Framework Born from Systemic Stress
5. Brittle Systems: Why Efficiency Creates Hidden Risk
6. Anxiety as a Risk Amplifier: The Human Dimension of BANI
7. Nonlinearity: When Small Causes Create Big Failures
8. Incomprehensibility: Auditing in a World That No Longer Makes Sense
9. Applying BANI to Emerging Risk Identification and Assessment
10. From Framework to Impact: What BANI Means for Your Audit Function
Designed for forward-looking auditors and governance professionals, this film translates theory into practical audit implications, helping Internal Audit remain relevant, credible, and impactful in a BANI world.
Additionally, we offer you an Audit Playbook for “Making Sense of Chaos: A New Risk Lens for Internal Auditors – Part I: When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World.”
Your Companion Guide to "The Trend Is Your Friend" Film Series by the ARC Institute.
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When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World - Episode I
In today’s risk environment, uncertainty no longer unfolds gradually or predictably. Traditional assumptions about stability, control, and continuity are increasingly challenged by sudden disruption and systemic stress.
For Internal Audit, this creates an urgent need to rethink how risk is unders... -
When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World - Episode II
Frameworks shape how risk is perceived, discussed, and audited. While VUCA helped organisations recognise volatility and uncertainty, today’s environment exposes its limitations in explaining systemic breakdowns and cascading failures.
This episode explores why a new framework is needed and how B... -
When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World - Episode III
Many of today’s most significant risks are not visible through traditional control frameworks. Highly optimised systems and human pressure responses can silently amplify vulnerability, creating conditions for sudden failure.
For Internal Audit, understanding these dynamics is essential to evaluat... -
When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World - Episode IV
As systems become more interconnected, risk no longer follows linear patterns. Small events can escalate rapidly, while cause and effect become increasingly difficult to trace or explain.
This episode examines how nonlinearity and incomprehensibility challenge traditional audit approaches and why... -
When Risk No Longer Behaves: Internal Audit in a BANI World - Episode V
Conceptual frameworks only create value when they are translated into practice. Without a new approach to identifying and assessing emerging risks, Internal Audit risks responding after disruption has already occurred.
This final episode shows how BANI can be embedded into audit planning, executi...
