Now that Hewlett-Packard has settled with the state of California for $14.5 million, the question is what happens now? Is that an end to the pretexting scandal? Or are there other issues lurking?

As part of the deal, the state won't pursue pursue civil charges against the company, or against its current or former officers or directors. And in exchange, the company has to keep a chief ethics and compliance officer on the payroll,
expand the role of the company's chief privacy officer to review the investigation practices that got it into trouble in the first place, rewrite the company's employee and vendor codes to ensure that they address ethical standard regarding investigations and retain an expert on hand to assist the company's chief ethics officer with regard to investigations.

It's a good start because it puts business ethics front and centre. And so far the response from analysts has been positive.

UBS analyst Benjamin A. Reitzes has a "buy" on the stock with the $51 target price unchanged. "With this announcement, we believe the distractions are largely behind HP and investors can focus on solid fundamentals," he wrote in a note to clients, reports BusinessWeek.

Tech analysts say HP looks because of the business fundamentals, reports USA Today. Its results are better than expected, it has overtaken rival Dell in PC sales for the first time since 2003, and it has avoided all the problems its rivals have confronted recalling laptop batteries purchased from Sony.

HP CEO Mark Hurd could be textbook example for other CEOs when it comes to crisis management, Eric Johnson, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, told US News.

According to Johnson, Hurd acted quickly, he accepted some responsibility, he moved to rebuild internal morale by bringing back legendary HP executive Richard Hackborn, known for championing the old-school "HP way", and he achieved some closure externally by finalising the deal with California.

So how much closure? That's the imponderable. The company is still facing an insider trading lawsuit.

And the Securities and Exchange Commission is still conducting an investigation into the spy case.