I've been a consultant at one of the big 4 for a few years now. Last year I earned £225K more in fees than I was paid (base salary, bonus, car allowance, healthcare etc). Last year I received 31% of my annual fees as income.With a rise in my daily rate of 10% and a frankly rubbish 5% pay rise, I stand to make about 26% of my fees assuming my utilisation remains on target.Is this about right, or am I being taken for a bit of a ride?

I think this is probably fairly standard. My full hourly rate is 13x what I get paid. With utilisation and discounts, I get paid about 20% of the fees I earn.What I especially like is the annual increase in rate of 10% - not only is that a bigger % than the % payrise, but the increment on the rate is substantially more than I actually get paid. Nice eh.Still, keeps the partners in... whatever you spend £700k a year on.

30% is actually very generous, although it may not feel like it. The share of revenues you usually get as a consultant is 15-20%.

4x has been a long standing rule of thumb, although it is worth qualifying base or package...

Those big companies carry a lot of dead weight.... flashy (yet rubbish) offices in central London, over-priced furniture, bloated admin departments, old-timers who are over-paid and don't carry their weight, stupid adverts at airports, etc. That's where a lot of the other 75% goes.

Yes I reckon you are lucky to get 1/4 of your earnings in benchmark terms at the moment. Utilisation rates are all very well but they often mask the support network that enables them in big firms.Its very difficult to know though as you have simply told us all about your figures without any background. Are you growing areas of business? Living off long established clients? Picking pockets? etc.You've told us nothing about this.

...'flashy (yet rubbish) offices in central London, over-priced furniture, bloated admin departments, old-timers who are over-paid and don't carry their weight, stupid adverts at airports'...and keeping Partners in their half million per year... ;)