Changing faces at BDO

Accounting firm BDO is experiencing a generational change with the retirement of its most senior partner, Geoff Brayshaw, and the appointment of its first female partner, Michelle Shafizadeh.

The 55-year-old Mr Brayshaw was BDO’s managing partner until last September and national president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia in 2002.

He will be retiring from the BDO partnership on 1 July but said he will remain active in the profession.

“I’m not retiring from work,” he said.

“I will continue to do some work through BDO.”

This could include acting as an expert witness and conducting probity audits.

Mr Brayshaw also has a couple of board positions, as chairman of the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation and as a newly appointed director of the State Government’s Small Business Development Corporation.

In addition, he is on the lookout for public company board positions.

Mr Brayshaw said he was leaving the partnership at a time when its audit practice was growing strongly, driven in part by tighter international regulatory standards.

His place as an audit partner will be taken by Ms Shafizadeh, who has been with BDO since graduating in 1993.

As well as being the first female partner at BDO, she is also the first part-time partner, having worked a four-day week since returning from maternity leave about five years ago.

Ms Shafizadeh said she needed to adopt a flexible approach to her working hours to ensure she could meet the needs of clients, adding that her clients and staff were supportive of her work arrangements.

Looking to the future, Mr Brayshaw said BDO has been involved in “lots of discussions” over a possible merger with another firm.

“The opportunity to take a position as the leading second-tier firm is out there,” he said.

“To make a difference you need to do something nationally.

“Somebody’s got to do it and somebody will reap the benefits.”