NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sanjay Kumar stepped down Wednesday as chairman and chief executive officer of Computer Associates, the software company that has been plagued by a long-running criminal probe into its accounting practices.

Kumar was named to the new position of chief software architect at CA. The embattled company said in a statement that it expects to name an interim CEO shortly and begin a search for a new CEO immediately.

Lewis Ranieri, who had been the lead independent director on CA's board since 2002, was named chairman. Ranieri is the founder of investment firm Hyperion Partners. Prior to that, he was a vice chairman at Salomon Brothers, which is now a part of Citigroup (C: Research, Estimates).

CA came under fire for revenue recognition practices that prosecutors allege pumped up the company's quarterly earnings results in fiscal 2000. The company has been accused of falsely recording sales from software licensing deals. Four former executives pled guilty to criminal fraud charges as a result of the federal probe earlier this month.

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The company fired nine employees earlier this week as a result of its own investigation into its accounting practices. The company also fired its former general counsel earlier this month.

Ranieri, however, stressed that Kumar's resignation did not mean that he had knowledge of any of the accounting irregularities. "The changes in Sanjay's role are not based on the conclusion that he engaged in any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, the conduct in question occurred during his tenure, and the board felt this action was appropriate," Ranieri said.

Shares of CA (CA: Research, Estimates) rose nearly 4 percent in late-morning trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange after being halted prior to the announcement about the management changes.