Most organisations rely on third parties to save costs, improve services, give an independent view, and help on flexibility and competitiveness. Using third parties therefore has become a natural part of an organisation's everyday operations. A third party is an organisation, supplier, agent, individual, or vendor that interacts on behalf of or with the organisation. Third-party providers provide all kinds of services from legal and accounts to IT, lobbying, or joint ventures. One of the big

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... llenges facing boards and organisations is gaining an understanding of the full extent of their third-party relationships and how to manage the inherent risks associated with them. Third parties can create risks as well as opportunities which can impact on areas such as reputation and brand value, or potentially give rise to financial and legal risks. This means that organisations need to conduct careful due diligence up front as well as throughout the relationship in order to appropriately monitor third-party risks. This monitoring can be carried out through a combination of on-site visits and the completing of questionnaires. The frequency of the monitoring depends on the risk rating of each third party and should be part of the contractual arrangement.