The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

4. Revolving Door

There's never a dull moment at CA (CA Quote).

The business software company formerly known as Computer Associates rolled out its latest accounting mishap this week, saying it would miss fiscal fourth-quarter targets and restate third-quarter earnings.

The news comes as top execs continue to flee the company's home base of Islandia, N.Y., in droves. Just two weeks ago, CA said CFO Robert Davis would leave "under mutual agreement."

"When we began the task of transforming CA," CEO John Swainson said May 15 in announcing the Davis move, "we knew that we would encounter many challenges and understood that in an undertaking of this scale and scope, changes were to be expected."

That's for sure. Davis' departure came a week after chief technology officer Mark Barrenechea departed for a venture-capital company, and a month after operating chief Jeff Clarke took off for Cendant (CD Quote).

And while Swainson seems to indicate that nonstop managerial shuffling is a necessary evil, the CA statement accompanying his Feb. 9, 2005, hiring claims otherwise. "CA Names Swainson Chief Executive Officer," reads the headline. "Management Transition Completed."

Not by a longshot.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 85. "They ought to be able to add the numbers properly," one investor told Newsday.