It's probably fair to say that Sir Digby Jones won't be looking back on his five years as a non-executive director of iSoft with much fondness.

The company is under fire for accounting breaches – more specifically booking revenues too early – and Sir Digby (who I should mention helped judge this year's Accountancy Age Awards) is attracting his fair share of personal bad publicity.

It's for two reasons.

The smaller is that he was a member of the company's audit committee during a crucial period at the embattled software supplier, compounded by the fact that he was senior non-executive director.

The other, and much more significant, is that, as the former DG of the CBI, he is a big fish in the non-exec pool.

Sir Digby's experience is bound to make him more cautious in taking on non-exec appointments in the future. And it will have a wider impact too, making more and more existing and prospective non-execs wary of taking on the role.

With the AIDB already investigating iSoft - and with Britain's most senior business spokesman dragged into the fray - as corporate scandals go, it's a story with legs.

I can't help thinking that in a few years' time, the iSoft sotry might mark a tipping point in the governance debate. That said, I can't tell yet which way it will tip.