In a wide-ranging report into the Horizon IT accounting failures at the Post Office, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said the key insights from phase six of the ongoing inquiry are relevant to company directors, as they highlight the critical importance of governance.

Although the Horizon IT system was largely at fault for the failings, the IoD stated that ‘the root causes were failure in human decision-making, organisational culture and business ethics’.

The Post Office board over the 20 years of the scandal should be held accountable as ‘numerous cohorts of directors failed to deliver adequate scrutiny of management and key business activities’.

The IoD policy paper, The Post Office Scandal: A Failure of Governance, found that failings in the IT did not fit the ‘narrative’, as the Post Office hierarchy viewed sub-postmasters as ‘outsiders’ and the most likely culprits of the issues.

Dr Ro