Exhibit 31.1
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           Rule 13a - 14a Certification of the Chief Executive Officer
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I, Neil J. Hennessy, Chief Executive Officer and President of Hennessy Advisors,
Inc., certify that:
1.      I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-KSB for Hennessy
        Advisors, Inc.;
2.      Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
        of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
        the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
        statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered
        by this report;
3.      Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
        financial information included in this report, fairly present
        in all material respects the financial condition, results of
        operations and cash flows of the small business issuer as of,
        and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.      The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I
        are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
        controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
        13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
        reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
        15d-15(f)) for the small business issuer and have:
          a)    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                to the small business issuer, including its consolidated
                subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                entities, particularly during the period in which this report
                is being prepared;
          b)    Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
                in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
          c)    Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's
                disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this
                report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
                disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
                period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
          d)    Disclosed in this report any change in the small business
                issuer's internal control over financial reporting that
                occurred during the small business issuer's most recent fiscal
                quarter (the small business issuer's fourth fiscal quarter in
                the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or
                is reasonably likely to materially affect, the small business
                issuer's internal control over financial reporting; and
5.      The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I
        have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
        internal control over financial reporting, to the small
        business issuer's auditors and the audit committee of the
        small business issuer's board of directors (or persons
        performing the equivalent functions):
          a)    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                design or operation of internal control over financial
                reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                small business issuer's ability to record, process, summarize
                and report financial information; and
          b)    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                or other employees who have a significant role in the small
                business issuer's internal control over financial reporting.
Date: December 22, 2003

/s/ Neil J. Hennessy
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Neil J. Hennessy, Chief Executive Officer and President, Hennessy Advisors, Inc.
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