Want Executive Support for GRC? Show Them These 5 Must-have Reports

For some executives, governance risk and compliance (GRC) is a necessary cost of doing business. For others, it’s a burden. But some leaders see it for what it can truly be: a strategic function that improves business performance and builds trust. 

What separates those perspectives? It’s not just effort. It’s not only outcomes. It’s not even enough when you do both — unless you also communicate. And that’s something that early-stage GRC programs really struggle with.

Research reveals 5 critical report types for GRC maturity

In our 2025 State of Enterprise GRC Maturity report, we found that teams with strong leadership support aren’t just doing the work. They’re reporting on it in the language business leaders understand, showing not just risk reduction but impact on success metrics across the organization. 

Follow along as we count down the five most important areas of reporting for GRC.
‍

{{ banner-image }}

#5 Operational efficiency and automation impact

Let’s be honest: no executive is likely to ask how many controls you reviewed this month or how many activities you automated. If you report your work in those terms, you’re feeding into the idea that GRC is boring and burdensome.

But if you stop and think about it, you already know what leaders really want to know. “How is this reducing our risk? How much money is it saving us? Is it creating new opportunities?” So don’t just show what you’re doing. Show the impact. 

Efficiency is a great place to start with reporting because it’s easy to quantify in business-relevant terms, even early in your GRC maturity journey, such as:

• Time saved
• Hours reduced
• Faster sales cycles

According to our research, 100% of the most mature GRC programs (respondents rated themselves a 5 on a 1-5 scale, “very mature”) use automation, and 68% use AI. These very mature programs are also more likely to report cost and time savings during audits and overall operational efficiency gains. GRC professionals whose programs deliver operational efficiency gains are: #4 Financial implications of GRC If efficiency reporting gets leadership to pay attention, financial impact reporting gets them to lean in. Mature GRC teams show how they impact the bottom line. Compared to all survey respondents, professionals with the most mature GRC programs are:

• 10% more likely to report directly on the financial impacts of compliance
• 14% more likely to report reduced incident costs 
• 18% more likely to report customer trust scores
• 23% more likely to report sales cycle improvements (time to close) 

At the other end of the spectrum, the majority of respondents with the least mature GRC teams (57%) say they either don’t measure ROI or don’t know how to. No wonder leadership is also most likely to see them as a burden. You can show business value by tying your work to:

• Fines avoided
• Legal or audit cost savings
• Reduced cost of incidents
• New market opportunities
• Revenue growth

Once you start connecting GRC actions to financial outcomes, you shift the conversation from “What does this cost?” to “What is this worth?”#3 Governance maturity score and trendLeaders who see GRC as a competitive advantage and a business enabler are more likely to request reporting through metrics like the overall governance maturity score or trend. Less-invested leaders may not be asking for this information, but we feel every GRC team can win support by demonstrating growth.Our research asked GRC professionals to self-assess their GRC program’s maturity level. Self-reported results proved remarkably consistent, reliably predicting factors including how automated a GRC program is, whether it uses AI, and how leadership perceives it. Use a self-assessment of GRC maturity to show leadership how your efforts are going and how far you’ve come. It will signal that your team has a plan, is tracking against it, and is committed to continuous improvement. Track your maturity across areas like: 

• Percentage of controls continuously monitored
• Percentage of GRC processes automated
• Percentage of GRC workflows augmented with AI
• Depth and breadth of the GRC program’s integration with business systems

Even if you’re very early in the GRC maturity journey, starting to report on your maturity trend presents your program as dynamic and worth investing in. #2 Regulatory changes and impacts Tracking regulatory change is one thing. Giving executives insights into the business impact of compliance is another — and it’s something fully mature GRC programs do better than anyone. Survey data shows fully mature GRC programs are 10% more likely to report on regulatory changes and impacts. This forward-looking reporting becomes a vital source of insights for leadership to understand what’s on the horizon, why it matters, and what the GRC team is doing about it.

You don’t need to over-engineer this. Start by identifying upcoming regulatory changes that materially affect your policies, products, contracts, or go-to-market plans. Then show: 

• What’s changing
• What the business impact could be
• What you’re doing about it

AI is already helping mature GRC programs scale this kind of work. GRC teams that report contributing to operational efficiency are 10% more likely to be using AI for regulatory impact change analysis. #1 Compliance against key frameworks Compliance status may seem like a no-brainer, but you may be surprised how much your framework management style shapes leadership’s perception of your program.Most teams track organizational compliance with multiple frameworks like NIST, ISO 27001, and SOC 2. Unified custom frameworks make it easier to manage controls across frameworks with less manual effort — and, as it turns out, this has ripple effects. Survey data shows that leadership is much more likely to see GRC as a burden when the team handles regulations separately, and far less likely to see GRC as a burden when the team uses a unified, custom framework. 

• 11% more likely to be using AI for workflow optimization
• 10% more likely to be using AI for regulatory change impact analysis
• 10% more likely to be using AI for security incident prediction

So, make sure to streamline framework management with a unified custom framework. Once you’ve done that, report on alignment in a way that highlights the business value:

• Compliance status across key frameworks
• Activities to maintain or expand coverage
• Time and manual effort saved across overlapping frameworks

Deliver reporting that earns you a seat at the tableFully mature GRC programs share many traits: automation, AI, continuous monitoring, business integration, and a focus on impact. When you put it all together, a common factor emerges: the shift from reactive to proactive. Most people think of reporting as backward-looking, just like an audit. However, fully mature GRC programs realize that reporting can be so much more. Proactive, data-driven GRC reporting can inform and advise strategic decisions from the top.The five types of reporting described above improve visibility, self-awareness, and the ability to handle whatever comes next. So, as you develop and scale your GRC program, remember: don’t just report on what you did. Report how you’ve grown, what’s on the horizon, and how you’re helping the business thrive now and in the future. With the right approach, you can prove to leadership that GRC is more than a cost center; it’s a competitive advantage. There’s even more to learn about what fully mature GRC programs do differently, and how to follow their lead, in our State of Enterprise GRC Maturity report. Download your copy now. 

‍