The article is devoted to some aspects of financial risk management. The activities of economic entities entail the possibility of crises. The risk is due to the uncertainty of the external environment, our ignorance, the actions of counterparties, which are difficult to assess and predict with due accuracy. The issue of risk is of particular importance at the present stage due to the high volatility of the markets, the presence of negative consequences for the world economy, the so-called “after shock” of the global financial and economic crisis of the first decade of the 21st century. The article discusses the definition of “risk” and made a retrospective look at the development of risk management and the emergence of a new approach - Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (ERM) or integrated risk management. The article focuses on financial risk, which is one of the most difficult categories that have ambiguous understanding in the scientific community. Based on a lot of research in the field of risk management, the main characteristics inherent in financial risk, which accompanies all financial transactions and any activity, determines the alternativeness of activity, leads to a dynamic level of damage, are identified. For the successful functioning and ongoing development of all economic entities, risk management should become an integral part of the enterprise, state operation, including the identification and assessment of risks, measures to eliminate the consequences of risk situations, the mechanism of the economic entity’s survival in difficult conditions, compensatory measures.