New York ? Three former Computer Associates executives admitted Thursday that they fraudulently recorded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts in a broad conspiracy to inflate the software firm’s quarterly earnings.

The executives entered guilty pleas under cooperation agreements that prosecutors called an important move toward indicting other high-ranking company executives.

“The pleas represent a major advance in our continuing effort to bring to justice those at Computer Associates who are responsible for committing securities fraud,” U.S. Atty. Roslynn Mauskopf said in a statement.

Former chief financial officer Ira Zar, the third-highest-ranking executive after former chairman Charles B. Wang and current chairman and chief executive Sanjay Kumar, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and obstruct justice.

According to the charges against him, Zar regularly met with high-level executives whom prosecutors described as Executive No. 1 and Executive No. 2. Zar conspired with the two executives to falsely record revenues from software licensing deals as having occurred in the previous fiscal quarter, according to the charges.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the identities of those two executives.

Along with Zar, former senior vice president of finance and administration David Kaplan and former vice president of finance David Rivard pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and obstruct justice.

Rivard and Kaplan’s cooperation with the government means they will likely receive less than the maximum 10-year sentences allowed for the two charges.

Zar could have faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed actions Thursday against Zar, Rivard and Kaplan, charging each of them with committing accounting fraud while at Computer Associates.

David Rivard, right, former finance vice president of Computer Associates, exits federal court in New York, with his attorney John Carroll, left. Rivard plead guilty Thursday to securities fraud and obstruction of justice.