The 2026 Equity Partner Contribution and Compensation Survey is the fourth in a research series that began in 2015.

Drawing on responses from more than 140 firms across the legal, accounting and consulting sectors, it examines how professional services firms are rewarding their equity partners in a market reshaped by a global pandemic, the emergence of AI and a surge of private equity investment.

The central question: are equity partner reward systems keeping pace?

Key Findings

• Only 21% of firms say their compensation system encourages partners to experiment with AI. 36% of firm leaders were neutral on the question.

• 81% of firms now run merit-based profit sharing, yet only 17% link any element of equity to long-term enterprise value.

• Addressing underperformance has been the lowest-rated review outcome in every survey since 2015, scoring 60% in 2026.

• The top two priorities for the next 12 to 24 months are aligning partner reward to strategy and increasing accountability for performance. Firms have been naming these priorities since 2015.

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