NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - WorldCom Inc. has formally launched a search for a new chief executive as the bankrupt telecommunications company struggles with investigations into its accounting and attempts to reorganize, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Top candidates for the job include Edward Mueller, a former chief executive of Ameritech, a unit of SBC Communications (SBC: Research, Estimates), and Ronald LeMay, a high-level executive at Sprint Corp., (FON: Research, Estimates) the New York Times reported, citing people involved in the search process.

The board's decision Tuesday reinforces a CEO search that informally began several weeks ago because current CEO John Sidgmore has lost the support of most of the creditors committee, which effectively controls WorldCom, people close to the company told the paper.

Sidgmore, who succeeded Bernard Ebbers in late April after Ebbers was ousted, will lead the search along with Bert Roberts, WorldCom's chairman. The creditors, which have already contacted several potential candidates, will continue to be involved in the process.

Sidgmore said he expected a new chief executive to be appointed by the end of the year as part of WorldCom's overall plan to emerge from bankruptcy by next March. He will remain vice chairman to help present customers with an image of stability and continuity, according to the report.

People at SBC Communications headquarters have known for several days that Mueller is a potential candidate to succeed Sidgmore. Mueller, who resigned from SBC last March, is a telecom veteran who formerly served as CEO of Southwestern Bell and Pacific Bell.

An SBC spokesman declined comment to the Times.

Another potential candidate, Dick Brown, is the CEO of Electronic Data Systems, which manages computer systems. He has already been approached about the job, but declined and suggested alternative candidates, the paper reported.

LeMay, the president and chief operating officer of long distance provider Sprint, told the Times Tuesday that he was not open to the WorldCom job.

Separately, WorldCom's board took no action on whether to reverse the severance package it handed Ebbers before his April departure.

Ebbers walked away with a low-interest $408 million loan and a pension of about $1.5 million a year before leaving the company. About two months after he left WorldCom disclosed that it had improperly booked $3.8 billion in expenses, a figure it later raised to more than $7 billion.

The disclosure eventually led to the company's bankruptcy and the matter remains under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.

Ebbers, who has not been charged, has told Congressional investigators that he has done nothing wrong.

However, former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan has been indicted for helping orchestrate the accounting irregularities along with another executive, Buford Yates.