Grant Thornton UK LLP has promoted two new partners in its audit team. Madeleine Malenczuk and Jon Oakey will lead in driving quality, building sustainable value, and developing talent across the south of England. A key focus for Oxford-based Malenczuk, who is regional people lead for the firm, will be to manage and grow the client portfolio across the Thames Valley and south coast. Oakey will lead the 75-strong Gatwick audit department and support the team’s growth and skills progression.

BDO has elected partner and head of restructuring Mark Shaw as managing partner to replace Paul Eagland who is stepping down after eight years at the end of September. Shaw will take up the role from 1 October and he has been a member of the senior leadership team since 2008 and a member of the firm’s advisory executive and quality & risk executive.

Buzzacott has strengthened its dedicated social housing team with the appointment of John Butler as assistant manager. Previously he was finance policy lead at the National Housing Federation. He has considerable experience in all aspects of social housing finance having worked alongside registered providers identifying potential financial issues and optimising their operating environments. He was also the secretariat of the social housing SORP working party. He started his career at PwC.

EQ Accountants has promoted 33 team members, including Greg Stapley to partner. In the technical services team, notable promotions include Kelly Meiklejohn and Anna Coff to senior managers, and in the business services team Jane Black has been appointed as senior manager and Ruth Phillips as assistant manager. Liam Cruickshank is named as head of internal finance. The promotions reflect the firm’s commitment to talent development and internal growth.

Sedulo Wealth has made key appointments for a new boutique team based in Birmingham. Newly appointed commercial finance director, Chris Richards, will lead the operation following an extensive banking and advisory career with the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland, Yorkshire Bank and Swoop. He will be joined by other hires Kasim Jaffer and Vivek Joshi, along with Arpinder Kalley who has been within the business since 2023. Meantime, in Liverpool, Steven Hilditch has been appointed as wealth planning director to cover the north west region. He has a financial planning career spanning over 30 years, having previously worked at Mercer, a division of Marsh and McLennan.

Ribchesters Accountants has appointed Lesley Stabler as a partner in the Durham office. She is a certified chartered accountant with more than 20 years’ experience in a senior role and has joined the firm from Tait Walker/Azets. Having worked in the north east throughout her career, Stabler has worked with a wide range of clients, predominantly owner managed businesses including those in the property, retail, agriculture and pharmaceutics sectors. She also has significant audit experience which will enhance the existing audit team.

Graham’s Family Dairy has promoted Rachel Matthew to finance director, stepping up from her previous role as head of group finance at the family firm. Having spearheaded a major streamlining project in recent years at the dairy, Matthew will now look to foster and grow external relationships while overseeing the firm’s finance function.

Evelyn Partners has appointed Craig McGuire as an investment director in its Jersey office. He has 25 years’ wealth management experience and most recently worked at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management where he spent nine years as a director in its Jersey office on the advisory and execution only desk. Meantime, Irish subsidiary, Evelyn Partners Investment Management (Europe) Limited, has appointed Brian Weber as head of business development. Previously he was CEO of Quilter Cheviot Europe.

The Financial Reporting Council has appointed Sally Duckworth as chair of the new UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). This will be a part-time role for Duckworth who is non executive director of Molten Ventures VCT plc, audit chair at Mobeus Incomes and Growth 2 plc, and chair and investor director at Edge Software. She has an impressive background, including extensive experience in corporate leadership roles, auditing and investment management and her expertise will be invaluable as the committee evaluates the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) corporate reporting standards and advises on their endorsement for the UK. The FRC will act as secretariat for the sustainability TAC.

AICPA & CIMA have announced the retirement of Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA on 31 December from his role as CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). He joined the organisation in 1995 and has been CEO since 2017 when he oversaw the successful merger of AICPA and CIMA, to serve the public and management accounting profession worldwide. The board is working with global executive search firm Korn Ferry to identify his successor. The appointment is expected to be made before the end of the year.