Profit per partner: pay, bonus pools and partnership profit
Salaries, bonus pools, costs and what partners keep.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: profit per partner: pay, bonus pools and partnership profit.Updated 30 October 2026
What it does
The partnership’s income statement. Non-partner grades are paid a salary and a bonus from a pool funded on performance, plus employer costs and the cost of recruiting the year’s hires; partners draw no salary, because they are paid from what is left. Bench cost, the salary paid for planned billable hours nobody bought, is shown as a memo inside pay. Sub-contractors, offices, technology, travel and central costs follow, and operating profit before partner remuneration divided by average partners is profit per partner, the measure the owners are paid on and compared by.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 62–77: Principals: base salary, FY1E, Principals: target bonus, % of base salary, Managers: base salary, FY1E, Managers: target bonus, % of base salary…
- Assumptions, rows 80–86: Occupancy per head, FY1E, Technology and knowledge per head, FY1E, Growth in per-head and fixed costs, a year, Travel not recharged to clients, % of revenue…
- Hours and Revenue, rows 54–59: Revenue per partner, Revenue per professional, every grade, Fee revenue per non-partner, Check: billed hours - heads x available hours x target utilisation x achieved…
- Costs and Profit, rows 6–24: Principals: base salary per head, Managers: base salary per head, Consultants: base salary per head, Analysts: base salary per head…
- Costs and Profit, rows 27–35: Cost index, Sub-contractors, Occupancy, Technology and knowledge…
- Costs and Profit, rows 38–45: Revenue, Operating profit before partner remuneration, Operating margin, Staff costs, % of revenue…
What a reviewer looks for
- Partners carried as a salary, which hides the owners’ return.
- Bonuses as a fixed cost when the pool moves with the year.
- Recruiting left out, so attrition looks free.
Learn it, then build it
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