Brief: CA Delays Financials Over Accounting MistakeBrief: CA Delays Financials Over Accounting Mistake

This isn't where CA chief John Swainson wanted to be a year and a half into his turnaround plan.

Blaming faulty accounting that overlooked about $70 million in sales commissions, the business software maker last week delayed reporting its fourth quarter and annual financial results and said it would restate its third quarter report to lower earnings by about 3 cents a share. CA expects to lose about 7 cents a share for the fourth quarter but earn about 22 cents a share for the fiscal year on revenue of $3.8 billion.

CA has worked to get its books in order after a $2.2 billion accounting scandal two years ago, adopting new accounting procedures, toughening corporate governance, and instituting new financial reporting processes.

The latest revelation comes a week after CFO Robert Davis announced his resignation. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Swainson expressed disappointment and promised changes so the problems don't recur. Still, the company isn't certain it's out of the accounting woods, saying in its statement that "further adjustments may be necessary."