An accountant reading the papers carefully would have noted that his long serving chief financial officer Jack Boultbee was also convicted.

Both were involved in 'plundering' $6m from the Hollinger media empire. And of course it raises the question, would Black have been able to manage it without Boultbee on his team?

Boultbee incidentally maintains that what he did was all part of legitimate tax planning for the company. So that's two lots of people whose reputations are potentially tarnished - tax advisers and FDs/CFOs.

To be honest Boultbee is in good company. Andrew Fastow, CFO at Enron, is still serving six years for his work there while Scott Sullivan is still serving time for helping out with the financial arrangements at WorldCom.

The difference between them and Boultbee, is that at some point they both put their hands up and said 'fair cop'. Boultbee has done nothing comparable.

So even while the sums involved at Enron and WorldCom were vast compared to Hollinger, they got off fairly lightly. Boultbee's beligerance may earn him a longer stretch.

But back to my question: Are FDs all crooks? Of course not. In fact there are notable examples around of FDs who stop the rot, not contribute to it. Trouble is, these stories tend to remain untold, because nobody wants to wash their dirty financials in public. But it does happen.

Frankly though, there is no one better qualified for a bit of fraud than, well, the finance director. What we need is a few more good examples to demonstrate, for everyone to see, that they've taken some firm action to halt some unsavoury practices. That way the public might be a little more reassured.

So in a rather unsubtle way, I'm clearly indicating that you should let me know how you stopped a fraud. Don't be afraid, we're all friends here.