The contents of a preliminary report of an audit committee set up last year to investigate the irregularities resulted in resignations of the three men in charge of accounting at that time.
CFO Ira Zar, senior VP of finance Lloyd Silverstein and VP of finance David Rivard are no longer with the company.
The disclosures are the latest in a series of controversies surrounding CA’s books, and come in the midst of a joint investigation by the US Attorneys Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission into CA’s accounting practices.
CA’s audit committee discovered revenue recognized improperly in the year ended March 31, 2000.
The revenue was genuine, but recognized in quarters prior to the contracts actually being signed. Normally a company recognizes revenue in the period when the deals close, not beforehand.
CA’s accounting has been under an almost constant cloud for over three years, with the firm enduring shareholder litigation and a proxy battle by a minority shareholder.
In October 2000, the company changed the way it accounted for sales. Instead of accounting for the entire license up front, the company started to recognize the sale over the life of the contract, which caused some confusion.
Two months ago CA paid $144 million to settle all its outstanding securities-related lawsuits, to settle the uncertainly of pending litigation.
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
