Jailed National Finance boss Trevor Allan Ludlow is appealing his sentence on the grounds it was "manifestly excessive" but has been denied bail to prepare for the hearing.

If the collapse of NZ's finance companies left a stench wafting through the business community, Adam Feeley says the jailing of dishonest directors has sent a chill blowing through boardrooms.

National Finance director Carol Anne Braithwaite has sentenced to ten months home detention at a waterfront Devonport property for misleading investors of the failed firm.