
FEW people can chart a rise from till ringer to senior management member at a leading British accountancy firm.
But Dan Burnell, from Shaw, did just that – and now local youngsters and small businesses in Oldham are benefitting from his support.
The 33-year-old has opened a new community friendly accountancy service called BlueFox Accounting.
Based at social enterprise Upturn’s new co-working, business and enterprise hub The Hive, it’s now open to support all Oldham businesses on the upper floor of The Spindles shopping centre.
Dan left school at 16 years old and has also spent three years singing ‘happy birthday’ to customers at tables in a fast-food emporium – which he said “transformed me as a person”.
He’s determined to demonstrate how you don’t always have to go to university to succeed in a top profession.
“The school I attended was failing and I left at 16 to work in Tescos,” Dan explained. “I was fortunate to have a friend who got me a job at an accountants firm and I began an apprenticeship. The route to becoming a chartered accountant is much more efficient that way – you qualify a year quicker than you would as a graduate and without any of the student debt!”
Dan made the decision to go it alone after a successful career at blue ribboned accountancy firms and his dream was to run a business that was not ‘sales driven’ but to ‘help start-ups and community organisations get up and running’.
BlueFox Accounting offers smaller organisations bespoke accountancy that goes beyond the traditional once-a-year compiling of accounts.
“I want to become part of their team, to understand what they need so that I can help them best,” said Dan.
BlueFox is based at Upturn with other small businesses because Dan admits the lockdown experience made him miss the camaraderie of other people.
“Dan’s business is exactly the sort of organisation we knew would benefit from being at our hub,” said Anwar Ali OBE, co-founder of Upturn.
“It is steeped in the idea of community and his life experience is an example for those who may prefer vocational education or cannot afford to study for a degree.”