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In the company's assessment, its failure to 'identify, prevent or fully disclose' transactions that are at the centre of its current scandal is the fault of three factors: the presence of the same executives managing both Hollinger International and its parent company, Hollinger Inc.; the lack of a clear policy for dealing with related-party transactions; and the absence of a policy that related-party deals must be negotiated by officers who do not have a significant personal interest in the outcome of the deal.

For a company that has never paid much attention to new-fangled ideas of full disclosure, this small paragraph of honesty was revolutionary. It was a clear attempt to signal that a new guard is running the shop and is willing to criticize bluntly the old ways.

Other companies can extract some broader lessons from Hollinger International's mea culpa, even if few of them have such astoundingly weak procedures that they would require a full Hollinger-style overhaul."

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