But the challenges CA faces as it tries to transform its operations and fully repair its relationships with customers were highlighted by a warning that the company will report lower-than-expected financial results for the quarter that ended March 31. Although CA put much of the blame on the way it is accounting for revenue from recent acquisitions, it also pointed to "a slow bookings start" during the quarter.

John Swainson, CA's president and CEO, said he is confident that the company is on the right track and that the changes made internally since he was hired in November 2004 will have "a beneficial impact" in the fiscal year that started this month. A full turnaround won't happen overnight, though -- Swainson said last fall that it would likely take until 2008 to complete his planned makeover of CA.

Dale Ross, a senior database consultant at Polaris Technologies Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta, is a longtime user of CA products. He said CA is taking the right steps on ethics issues in the wake of the accounting scandal. But he added that the company's ability to improve its financial performance and continue to develop useful technologies is still unproven.

"The proof is in the pudding," Ross said. "We hear the CA brass making the right comments. But the question is whether they follow through."

To Ross, Kumar's guilty plea was a positive step toward encouraging appropriate behavior by corporate executives in general. "Once you see guys like Sanjay led away in handcuffs, maybe it will put the fear of God in others," he said.