Would you like to become a freelance analyst?

Note! This document is general info about freelance analysis. If you are already an analyst looking for detailed information, you should look
Freelance Analysis Step-By-Step Guide

We are looking for freelance analysts for doing equity analysis to the Valuatum platform. Freelance analysis is normally done part time and as remote work - in the evenings with your own computer at home. It is suitable for active investors, business controlling professional (you can analyze your competitors or customers) and even students in the fields of financing or accounting. If you are interested, please read the information below.

Index

1. Requirements
2. What is the job like?
3. What will you get by becoming an analyst?
4. How much time should I have for this?
5. What kind of tools will I get?
6. How are the freelance analysts chosen?
7. Register as an analyst

1. Requirements

You shoud have:

1. Education or other knowledge on finance/accounting
2. Computer with internet connection
3. Microsoft Excel

2. What is the job like?

We provide you with the professional tools. You make that analysis with them and update it over the internet to our database where our customers can use it.

What is the "end product" like? What kind of analysis are analysts producing?
An example of the ready analysis can be found behind the following link: Demo of Finnish company analysis (go to "Company view" -section, browse through all the 7 pages of an individual company and especially the forum-comments from that company. Forum messages can be found from the bottom of each Company Views -page).

What is the process like? What do I have to do in practice?
So if you decide to be an analyst, you should be providing similar analysis. Our freelance-analysis step-by-step -guide will reveal the process of starting and making analysis.

3. What will you get by becoming an analyst?

Freelance analysis will offer at least following things to the analysts:

4. How much time should I have for this?

If you are already familiar with the investment analysis and even with Excel-based financial company models, then this job is not very time-consuming. You can normally get a current company model (with all the company historical figures etc. in it), then you just change the estimates (and perhaps check also historical figures quickly) write some comments (what your estimates are based of) and that is it. If you know the company and are familiar with financial figures, then the starting of the analysis of one small company might take as little as couple of hours. More experienced analysts with our system might even get analysis ready from one new small company in less than one hour. Click this link to see how it all is done (includes screenshots and detailed instructions).

But if you only have theoretical knowledge about the field, you have to learn many things in the beginning from the company you choose to analyse, how valuation models work in general etc., then the starting of the analysis might take much more time.

After the starting phase, a couple of hours per quarter/company is often enough especially with smaller companies. One analyst can follow as little as one single company. Most freelance analysts, however, currently tend to follow 2-4 companies, normally within the same or similar industries which give some synergies to the work.

Analysing companies and industries is however a kind of work, or in this context for many people rather a kind of "hobby", where you can spend as much time as you like even with a single company. So, many analysts cannot even say how much time they have spent as they do the analysing or information gathering beside completely other activities. In a similar fashion it is often hard to say how much time an individual spends when he/she invests in shares. Perhaps the decision and transaction itself happens fast but there is normally involved some amount of thinking and observing - analysing the target - for days or weeks: you notice company´s advertisements, the articles written about it, perhaps talk about it with your friends or collegues at work...

(In case you would decide to analyse a company that has not been analysed yet in our database, so you could not use prefilled model but you would have to input yourself also all historical parameters, then the starting would defiantely take more time. Perhaps even 5-10 hours. Here you can find instructions for this kind of situation. However, we recommend that nobody would start by analysing this kind of companies, but beginners should always take a company that has been followed already before.)

5. What kind of tools will I get?

The analysis will be done using the Valuatum Excel valuation model. It is an Excel worksheet which includes all the necessary parameters and formulas for making forecasts of all the financials and key figures of a company, and all the functionalities necessary for updating the figures to the database, from where they are published and shared to customers.

The input sheet of the Excel-model that you will be using are exactly the same as many professional sell-side analysts use as Valuatum excel-models are used also by stockbrokers. Originally it was also developed for their needs. So, if you are planning to work in the field later on, you will probably use the same model also with other employers.

The Excel model will also help you in doing your analysis by automatically balancing the assets and liabilities as forecasts are changed, doing all the necessary changes to the model when the fiscal year is changed and calculating all the computational key figures etc., including DCF- and EVA-based fair values. This means that the analysts can concentrate on the most essential things: estimates and their justification (comments).

For more information on the Valuatum Excel valuation model (the tool of freelance analysts), please see the Excel tutorial for new analysts.

Other interesting - but not so necessary documents - are also following tutorials documents: step-by-step guide for using Valuatum Excel Model with non-prefilled (empty) model or general info about Valuatum excel model.

6. How are the freelance analysts chosen?

The Freelance part of the Valuatum Platform is designed so that the analysis is ranked with each company. The best analysis from each company will get the best visibility to the customers (and most revenues). All the other levels are also available but their visibility is not so good. Therefore we do not have to choose or screen the analysts in advance: anybody can start analysing companies so we do not have any "selection process" hereby, however if the analysis is not good enough it will be not shown to customers and it will not participate in revenue sharing.

The best quality analysis for each company will be shown to the customers as a default analysis, but there is a drop-down menu on each company page where user can choose the analysis of other analysts and see their current rankings. The best quality analysis also generates most of the revenues and lower quality analyses from the same company are paid much less. Therefore extensive experience is not necessary, but it is still strongly valued, especially with big companies which seem to attract more analysts.

The ranking of the analysis is based on the Valuatum points system.

More detailed info on important topics hereby

1. Rewarding of the analysts
2. Points ie. ranking of the analysis
3. Freelance process: what steps there are that the analyst has to do?
   
4. Choosing companies
5. Why there is company reservation system?
6. Support available for freelance analysts

7. What next?

We are no longer looking for any analysts. Thank you for your interest. Please return to the main page of our new site.

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