Compensation budget
- Total compensation budget
- $3,347,680
- Base pay today
- $2,600,000
- Merit pool
- $104,000
- Promotion pool
- $40,000
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Opexvo publishes no accounting rule, no pay benchmark, no merit rate and no on-cost: the progress measure, the merit, the promotions and the on-cost are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
The figures above start from a worked example ($3,347,680). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Compensation budget worked example (CSV)
This is a compensation pool sheet, the arithmetic behind a compensation budget that HR and finance otherwise build in two spreadsheets that disagree. Headcount times average salary is base pay; base pay times the merit percent is the merit pool; promotions times the average uplift is the promotion pool; base plus both pools is the new base; the new base times the employer on-cost percent is the on-cost; and new base plus on-cost is the total compensation budget, over headcount for the figure per head. Every figure is yours, including the merit rate and the on-cost; the sheet publishes no benchmark. Free, on the page, no account; the paid plan keeps every pool with its approvals.
The merit and promotion pools
40 people at $65,000 is $2,600,000 of base pay; 4% merit is $104,000 and five promotions at $8,000 is $40,000 on the worked example. The two pools are separated because they are approved separately and spent at different times of the year.
The on-cost, the figure most pools leave out
Payroll taxes, benefits and insurance on the new base of $2,744,000 at 22% is $603,680, more than five times the merit pool. A compensation budget without it is short by that much, and the sheet carries it as a percentage input from your own accounts.
The total, and the figure per head
$3,347,680 for the pool, $83,692 a head on the worked example. The per-head figure is the one to put beside the offer letters; the sheet returns both and publishes no benchmark for either.
Compensation budget: common questions
How do I build a compensation budget?
Headcount times average salary for base pay, plus the merit pool at your merit percent, plus the promotion pool, then the employer on-cost on the new base. The free sheet on this site works all of it from six figures with no account; Opexvo Pro keeps the pool with its approvals.
What merit increase should I budget?
Your own figure, from your pay policy and your market; the sheet publishes no benchmark and the worked example's 4% is arithmetic, not guidance. What the sheet shows is what any rate costs, with the on-cost on top.
What does employer on-cost include?
Payroll taxes, benefits and insurance as a share of pay, from your own accounts; the worked example uses 22% to show the arithmetic. The sheet applies it to the new base after merit and promotions, which is where budgets that stop at base pay go wrong.
Opexvo Pro
Keeping what you make
The sheets are free forever. Pro turns them into the record: every budget line with its actuals and commitments dated, every project's forecast and every department's variance kept month by month, every compensation pool with its approvals, your company name and logo on the printed sheets, no watermark, and an export when the board or the auditor asks.
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Cite or embed this figure
Compensation budget (Total compensation budget): $3,347,680, Opexvo, worked example.
Cite as: "Compensation budget, Opexvo", updated 2026-09-04, https://opexvo.com/tools/compensation-budget/.