Awards

Brighton business leader wins national award

Darren Fell, CEO and Founder of Brighton-based accountancy firm Crunch, has won the Practice Pioneer of the Year award at this year’s Accounting Excellence Awards.

This national award celebrates service innovators, marketing strategists, technology gurus and inspirational leaders in the accounting industry.

Darren founded Crunch in 2009 and has led the company’s transition from an online accountant into an all-encompassing service that aims to simplify the lives of self-employed people.

In addition to marking Darren’s achievements at Crunch, building a £9.4million turnover business which grew by 18% last year, this win recognises his work supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs through partnering with the Albridge Academy and running community platform Crunch Chorus.

The awards ceremony took place in London’s InterContinental Hotel and was hosted by Countdown’s Rachel Riley.

On winning the award, Darren said: “The world of accounting has changed dramatically since I set up Crunch, but at its heart is great customer service and value for small businesses. We started out as a bit of an outsider doing things differently by combining technology with the insight that chartered accountants bring, so it’s brilliant to be recognised by our peers like this.

“This award is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Crunch. Our team has now grown to 185 employees and we now look after more than 10,500 clients. I‘m really proud of how we’ve worked together to grow the company and help so many small businesses to thrive.”