"I'm an entrepreneur. I take risks by going into new or old industries and being as disruptive as I can be," says Darren Fell.

With his latest venture - an online accountancy service for freelancers, Crunch.co.uk - he is doing just that.

Having sold his email marketing firm Pure360 last year for $7.8 million, Fell saw an opportunity to take on the world of accountancy, particularly in regards to freelancers in the UK. It's a community in which he is heavily involved, through his site Freelance Advisor.co.uk.

"I wanted to completely change this whole world of accountancy [operating] under the traditional system. Unfortunately freelancers are one-person businesses and bear the brunt of high prices," he tells Journalism.co.uk.

"I have heard it admitted by accountants that they couldn't make as much from charging corporates and SMEs. We [co-founders Steve Crouch and Drew Griffiths] realised people were being overcharged."

Crunch.co.uk was launched in April this year after nearly two years in development, offering a flat-rate, monthly fee (£59.50) for freelancers looking for invoicing services, tax calculations and tax advice from experts.

Inspiration for additions to the system - such as an iPhone app in development for filing expenses on-site or immediately after they are incurred - have come from the range of workers in the freelance sector, says Fell, from journalists and copywriters to plumbers and doctors.

To test the system more thoroughly, Fell himself became a freelance managing director of Crunch. The system had to be 'ridiculously simple' for him to use, he says, and this has become its tagline.

Freelancers who are working alone have limited time and don't want to spend their evenings working out tax returns and expenses, he says.

The system automates annual returns - a service that has never been offered before, he says - and is working on integrating with online banking systems so that expenses can be filed as they are debited from your account.

Challenging the existing accountancy model has been key to developing the service, he says. For example, clients are not locked into contracts, but pay on a month-by-month basis.

The site is growing with around 100 customers have signed up so far; there are plans to grow this userbase to thousands over the next three years. The market is huge: the Professional Contractors Group recently estimated that there are 1.4 million freelance workers in the UK.

"I feel like the whole of the workplace is going to change. The whole corporate world is changing and the corporates need a flexible workforce," he explains.

But Fell is determined to maintain good customer service - something he feels is currently overlooked by accountants handling freelancers.

"Traditionally accountants don't know how to scale their business. They want as much business as they can but they don't know how to scale and carry on supporting the client," he says.

"It's also a common occurrence for an accountant to say, 'you look like you are doing well now, so I'm going to put up the prices'."

Crunch is currently aimed at freelance workers who have launched themselves - or are planning to - as a limited company and shows the tax-saving benefits of doing this, while taking over the required paperwork, says Fell.

Ltd companies are not taxed on earnings as freelancers are, he says, which can bring savings of up to £4,000 for an individual.

But freelancers may have been put off by fees charged for setting this up and previous contact with accountancy firms, he says. As such, Crunch is hoping to challenge commonly held beliefs in the freelance industry, in particular the film and television sector, that being Ltd requires high earnings or large staff numbers.

The site would like to develop its services for sole traders and is planning a range of improvements, including a text message alert service for when clients make a payment and for managing outstanding invoices.

More advice from a growing team of chartered accountants will also be present, in particular video answers to common queries.

Sister site FreelanceAdvisor is also planning to resurrect Workline - a free support line for TV and film freelancers offering employment advice, previously run by Skillset.