Tools · For Canadian accounting firms
Partner Draw Ledger Calculator
Enter your firm's projected annual net income, each partner's ownership percentage, and the draws they've taken year-to-date. Get a live ledger showing where every partner sits vs. their expected share, flagged as on track, over-drawn, or under-drawn.
Firm inputs
Partners
| Name | Ownership % | YTD draws | |
|---|---|---|---|
Ledger
Fiscal year is 75% elapsed.
| Partner | Expected full-year share | Distributable | Expected YTD draws | Actual YTD | Delta | Head-room | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partner A · 40% | $480,000 | $336,000 | $252,000 | $240,000 | $-12,000 | $96,000 | On track |
| Partner B · 35% | $420,000 | $294,000 | $220,500 | $175,000 | $-45,500 | $119,000 | Under-drawn |
| Partner C · 25% | $300,000 | $210,000 | $157,500 | $160,000 | +$2,500 | $50,000 | On track |
| Firm totals | $840,000 | $630,000 | $575,000 | ||||
Delta is actual YTD draws minus expected YTD draws at the current point in the fiscal year. Positive means the partner has drawn more than their linear share; negative means less. Head-room is what a partner can still draw before hitting the annual distributable cap.
Doing this for real?
Track partner draws continuously, not once per spreadsheet.
Hibiscus HR is the only Canadian payroll platform that ships with a partner-draw ledger built in. Every draw entered updates each partner's YTD position live. No separate Excel file, no year-end surprise. Feed the totals into your T5013 season without re-typing a thing.
Common questions about partner draws
How is a partner's expected share calculated?
Firm projected annual net income multiplied by the partner's ownership percentage. If firm net income is projected at $1,200,000 and Partner A owns 40 %, her expected full-year share is $480,000. That is the ceiling. Whether she can actually draw all of it depends on the firm's draw policy (see next question) and the fiscal year elapsed.
What is a "draw policy" percentage?
The portion of a partner's full-year expected share that the firm makes distributable during the year as draws, versus held back for year-end reconciliation. Most Canadian accounting-firm partnerships set this between 60 % and 80 %. Setting it higher leaves less runway to absorb a bad year; setting it lower keeps working capital in the firm but frustrates partners who need income flow. The default 70 % is a common industry choice.
What does the ledger consider "on track"?
A partner is on track when their YTD draws are within 10 % of what a linear cadence would have them drawn to date. If the fiscal year is 60 % elapsed and a partner's distributable annual is $336,000, the expected YTD draws are $201,600. Draws between $181,440 and $221,760 read as on track. Above that band, over-drawn. Below, under-drawn.
Are partner draws the same as a T4 salary?
No. Partner draws are not employment income and do not have CPP, EI, or income tax withheld at source. They are advances against the partner's share of partnership profit, reported at year-end on a T5013 Statement of Partnership Income slip that the partner includes in their personal T1. Any Canadian HR platform that treats a partner like a T4 employee (source deductions, T4 slip, ROE on exit) has misunderstood the accounting-firm structure.
How is this different from what Wagepoint or Humi shows me?
Neither Wagepoint, Humi, nor any horizontal Canadian HR platform tracks partner draws. Their ICP is founder-run SMBs where the founder takes a T4 salary. Accounting firms have a different structure: partners take draws against T5013 income, staff take T4 salaries. Hibiscus HR is the only Canadian payroll platform built with that structure in mind. This calculator is a free glimpse of what the in-product Partner Draws module does continuously.
What happens if a partner is over-drawn at year-end?
The over-drawn amount is typically settled against the year-end profit allocation. If Partner B has drawn $210,000 by year-end but her actual share of firm net income comes in at $195,000, she owes the firm $15,000 (usually structured as a capital-account debit that gets recovered from her next year's draws). Under-drawn partners get the balance topped up at year-end, either as a lump distribution or as an addition to their partner capital account.