Having avoided a corporate indictment for the company's accounting woes, board members and current executives say they are confident Computer Associates is finally on firm footing, and the appointment of a permanent chief is among the last steps needed to shuffle off the old regime. An announcement of Mr. Swainson's selection is expected today.

CA is one of the world's largest software makers and primarily sells programs that run on the back-office systems of large corporations. In recent months, the company has pushed to expand sales to small- and medium-size businesses, and has dipped its toes in the waters of the consumer market.

Expanding sales beyond giant companies, broadening Computer Associates' geographic reach and reordering a sprawling software catalog will be among Mr. Swainson's first challenges. Finding new ways to sell the company's products is a "necessity," Mr. Swainson said in an interview. Still, he added, "We're not going to lose our focus on our core customers ... our enterprise customers."

Computer Associates had been without a permanent chief since April, when its board stripped Mr. Kumar of his titles of chairman and CEO. His fate had been sealed a few weeks earlier, when the company's former chief financial officer, Ira Zar, pleaded guilty to criminal charges of securities fraud and obstruction and implicated two people -- not identified at the time, but later revealed to be Mr. Kumar and an associate. Five former executives have pleaded guilty in the federal probe.

In the interim, the reins had been handed over to board member Kenneth Cron, one of a handful of directors with experience as a technology executive. Mr. Swainson will join the company immediately as president and CEO-elect, reporting to Mr. Cron in a sort of apprenticeship before he ascends to the CEO post sometime in the next several months.

Mr. Cron has a contract as interim chief that runs through March 31. Mr. Ranieri said Mr. Cron would remain a board member for some time afterward; Mr. Swainson has been elected to the board, though Mr. Ranieri will retain his chairmanship.

Nitsan Hargil, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., says the board was wise to pick an outsider, particularly one with deep software experience.

Mr. Swainson's record running WebSphere -- a highly successful line at IBM -- was particularly appealing. "Within three years of launch [WebSphere] took over the dominant market position in the middleware space," said John Thompson, a vice chairman of recruiters Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., which handled the search.

Write to Charles Forelle at charles.forelle@wsj.com⁵ and Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com⁶