WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac's board of directors will replace Chief Executive Greg Parseghian after a successor is found, the mortgage finance company says.

Freddie Mac's board has also agreed to remove General Counsel Maud Mater under orders from its regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). The shake-up is further fallout from an accounting scandal that caused the company to replace its senior management, including Parseghian's predecessor Leland Brendsel, in June.

No timetable has been set for completing the search for Parseghian's replacement, Freddie Mac said.

"After discussions with our regulator and Greg, we believe it is now in the interest of the company to accede to OFHEO's directive," Freddie Mac Chairman Shaun O'Malley said in a statement issued late on Friday.

Parseghian took the helm of the McLean, Virginia, company less than three months ago when Freddie Mac's board replaced top management over accounting irregularities.

An independent report commissioned by the board and released in July said Freddie Mac executives massaged the company's earnings to create an aura of a "steady Freddie" that could generate consistent, predictable financial results.

But investors said the report raised questions about the choice of Parseghian, 42, to lead the company. In his former post as chief investment officer, the report said, he was among senior officials who authorized strategies to offset larger profits Freddie Mac was going to incur from a shift to new derivatives accounting rules.

Freddie Mac has said it will restate profit upward by between $1.5 billion and $4.5 billion. OFHEO said on Friday the company is not in danger of financial collapse.

Freddie Mac said the restatement would proceed as expected.

"The restatement process remains unaffected by this change, and is still on track to be completed during the third quarter," O'Malley said in the statement. "At the same time, the board is committed to moving expeditiously to recruit a new CEO."

The Freddie Mac board supported Parseghian as the accounting scandal unfolded, even after release of the independent report. Members of the board did not return phone calls on Friday.

OFHEO, itself under fire from Congress for not acting sooner to address the company's accounting woes, is among several federal agencies investigating Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac shares closed down more than 2.5 percent at $49.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

There was little reaction in the mortgage-backed securities markets to speculation about Parseghian's future. Freddie Mac delayed to Aug. 25 a $1 billion note sale due on Friday, saying it wanted to let investors digest reports that OFHEO was urging Parseghian's replacement.

Both the independent report, written by former Securities and Exchange Commission General Counsel James Doty, and Freddie Mac's board said that at the time of the questionable accounting transactions, Parseghian was told by both internal and external accountants that the procedures conformed to principles in general use by U.S. companies.

Freddie Mac and its larger rival Fannie Mae purchase mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities for investors, raising money to facilitate home loan financing.