Interested in freelance management consulting work for independent contractors?

Working as an affiliated consultant for Astute Diligence can be a great way to apply the skills and expertise that you've acquired over the years to interesting due diligence and management consulting projects. Here, we've attempted to answer many questions you might have about our affiliate program.

Will I be an employee of Astute Diligence?

Why should I want to be an affiliated professional for Astute Diligence?

Will I be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis?

How much should I charge you?

Can Astute Diligence guarantee me a certain amount of work per year?

Must I work exclusively for Astute Diligence?

Will you pay for my expenses?

Will you provide me with a computer?

Will you oversee and control my work?

Do I need to work at Astute Diligence' offices?

Are there certain hours that I need to work?

Will I receive health insurance, sick leave, pension benefits and paid vacation?

Will you just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice?

Will I receive any training?

Will you promote me on your Web Site?

Will you withhold taxes for me?

Should I incorporate or otherwise form my own legal structure?

Can I subcontract my work to others?

Can I voluntarily become an employee of Astute Diligence?

Is it ever the case that I will qualify for employee status automatically?

Are these your final answers?

Will I be an employee of Astute Diligence? back to top

No. Should we mutually decide that you are to serve as an affiliated professional of Astute Diligence, you will be retained as an independent contractor or vendor, and not as an employee of Astute Diligence or its customers. As an independent contractor, you will enter into an Independent Contractor Master Agreement (the “Agreement”) that will define our relationship and the terms and conditions under which we will do business in detail. If you have formed a company through such means as incorporation, you will simply be a vendor of ours and we will define our relationship and the terms and conditions under which we will do business through a Master Services Agreement (also the Agreement).

Why should I want to be an affiliated professional for Astute Diligence? back to top

Affiliating with Astute Diligence gives you incremental exposure in the marketplace to our powerful network of contacts. More importantly, it is incremental business for you because we will periodically engage you to conduct services for us and will compensate you accordingly.

Will I be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis? back to top

Either. In some cases, you will be paid an hourly rate that we mutually agree to. In other instances, we will mutually agree to a flat fee arrangement. This will be defined in the Work Definition of our Agreement.

How much should I charge you? back to top

As an independent contractor or vendor, you determine your own rates. If you are new to being an independent contractor, you should be aware that independent contractors incur various costs that might not otherwise be incurred if they were employees. You should price your offerings with these costs in mind to be sure that you are not surprised by them later. At the same time, if you price your offerings too high, we may decide that you are too expensive for us.

Can Astute Diligence guarantee me a certain amount of work per year? back to top

No. We utilize independent contractors and other vendors only on an as-needed basis. We cannot predict the specific nature of the work we will be doing for our clients. Moreover, typically we only engage independent contractors or other vendors when special skills are required that we do not have access to internally from our full-time professionals. Accordingly, it is likely that we will call upon you for your services only on a sporadic basis and we therefore cannot make such guarantees.

Must I work exclusively for Astute Diligence? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you may offer your services to any prospective client you wish to. We encourage you to do so because we are not able to guarantee initial or continued use of your services. You may also work for multiple clients simultaneously if you like. Our concern will be that there is no degradation in the quality of your work for us because your resources are over-committed.

Will you pay for my expenses? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor to us, you are in effect an entrepreneur who is responsible for his or her own business, its expenses, and its ability to generate profits or losses. The only expenses that we will reimburse you for, subject to the terms of our Agreement, are those that are directly associated with the work you do on our behalf or on behalf of our customers.

Will you provide me with a computer? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you are responsible for all of the tools and materials you need in order to provide your services to us and your other customers.

Will you oversee and control my work? back to top

No. You are responsible for your own work, including methods used and sequencing of work steps. However, we will on occasion provided detailed high-level guidelines or specifications indicating what it is that you need to do for us. We also reserve the right to accept or reject your work, to provide feedback on your work, and to edit your work prior to our presenting it to an Astute Diligence customer.

Do I need to work at Astute Diligence' offices? back to top

No. You do not need to work at our offices, nor do you need to work at the offices of our customers. As an independent contractor or vendor, you may choose where you wish to perform your services. However, part of your work with us may require that you occasionally visit our facilities or those of our customers for periodic meetings.

Are there certain hours that I need to work? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you set your own hours. Our concern is simply that any deliverables you prepare for us are delivered to us in a timely manner and that your schedule does not negatively impact our service levels to our customers.

Will I receive health insurance, sick leave, and paid vacation? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, benefits are your responsibility and you should structure your work so as to afford the benefits you need. Anyone classified by the company as an independent contractor is excluded from benefits plan participation. Based on local, state, or federal laws, certain independent contractors may need to be re-classified by us as employees, in which case such benefits will be made available to them on a go-forward basis. In addition, we recognize that health insurance is an important issue for independent contractors and we are investigating various referral mechanisms that will allow you to find good coverage, as well as the contingent possibility that we may be able to offer benefits to independent contractors directly in the future.

Will you just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice? back to top

You need to submit an invoice to us in accordance with the terms of our Agreement.

Will I receive any training? back to top

No. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for your own ongoing training efforts. Presumably, we are contracting you because you already know what we need you to know and are an expert in that field.

Will you promote me on your Web Site? back to top

Yes. In addition to many other factors, our ability to attract business may be helped by our client's learning that we have formed a contractual relationship with you. Accordingly, part of our Agreement gives us permission to post your information on our Web Site under an “affiliated professional” designation for as long as the Agreement is in effect.

Will you withhold taxes for me? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, taxes and any necessary withholding are your responsibility. Penalties can apply if you do not withhold on a timely basis. You should also be aware that as an independent contractor, you will bear responsibility for incremental obligations such as Medicare and Social Security that are otherwise split between employer and employee. This will typically result in an incremental 7.5% tax on your total revenues and you should price your offerings accordingly. Consult with a tax professional for full details.

Should I incorporate or otherwise form my own legal structure? back to top

This is of course your own decision and you should seek the advise of your own counsel on this issue. For a variety of reasons, we prefer to work with affiliates that have formed a legal structure of some kind. More importantly, there are a number of benefits to your doing so, not the least of which is limited liability.

Can I subcontract my work to others? back to top

Yes. As an independent contractor, you may employ or otherwise engage others to assist you in conducting your work. Our concern is simply that any deliverables you prepare for us are of the highest quality level possible.

Can I voluntarily become an employee of Astute Diligence? back to top

Yes. We advertise our full-time employee positions on our Web Site in the Career Opportunities section. You should feel free to apply for full-time employment. In addition, should you work with us as independent contractor now and choose, at some date in the future, to convert to full-time employment, we will consider you for an employee position along with all other applicants.

Is it ever the case that I will qualify for employee status automatically? back to top

Yes, various regulations and laws may require that we convert you over to employee status if you should fail to meet the requirements of being an independent contractor. It is our intention to be in full compliance with these laws and, accordingly, we may convert you to employee status after discussing it with you. As these laws change or are clarified, our policies may change over time to fully comply with these laws.

Are these your final answers? back to top

No, Regis. We reserve the right to change the answers to these questions at any time based on new policies or new information.