CA confirms 31 Aust jobs to go
According to David Sweet, spokesperson for the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Management of Australia, most of the cuts were expected to take place within CA's NSW offices, but CA itself -- although confirming the figure -- today kept to tightly worded statements about the matter.
"The decision to eliminate positions is never easy -- however the restructuring will enable CA to move forward..." said Computer Associates' Australian and New Zealand marketing director, Jim Fisher.
The redundancies are part of a global cost-cutting exercise following in the wake of a long-running scandal surrounding CA's U.S. accounting practices which has left two of its highest ranking executives facing criminal proceedings.
U.S. authorities ordered Computer Associates repay US$225 million to its shareholders and charged former chief executive Sanjay Kumar and former head of global sales Stephen Richards with securities fraud and obstruction of justice.
The resulting restructuring plan, which aims to shed US$70 million from the company's overheads, would see staff numbers reduced by 800 world-wide.
In addition to the cuts, it now appears that the company is looking to offshore more of its operations in India to help it achieve that goal.
Computer Associates' Cron, told U.S. reporters yesterday that "geographic expansion into India and other countries" was a key area for the company's future growth.
The redundancies came as no surprise to technology industry observers. CA warned U.S. courts that the 5 percent staff reduction would follow if the court directive to backdate contracts for Wall Street's financial projections for the company went ahead.
Cron said the staff cuts were paramount to the continued success of the company, which lists some of Australia's largest corporate and government organisations among its clients.
"To ensure our long term success, we need to effectively...realign out investments with the company's strategic growth opportunities," Cron said.