Dan undertook his professional training with the National Audit Office. During this time he worked on value for money audits of UK central government departments. After qualifying he moved to work in local government undertaking a variety of financial reporting and management accounting roles.
He then moved into a training role providing professional training for CIPFA, ACCA and CIMA. He completed his PhD on the financial accountability processes in UK local authorities in 2005.
Prior to joining the University Dan was Head of Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Oxford Brookes University.