Jakob Stausholm will join Australian mining company Rio Tinto as its top accountant a half year after leaving a similar post at A.P. Moller - Maersk.

Stausholm stepped down as Maersk's group chief financial officer (CFO) in mid-March as the company was going through a major overhaul.

He will succeed Chris Lynch as Rio Tinto's CFO and as an executive director on 3 September.