Get waterfall guidance

What this produces

This guide walks through the illustrative waterfall guidance feature described in Fees and waterfalls. It is worth repeating the boundary before you start: the output is guidance, not a final carry calculation. Nothing it produces can be promoted to a journal entry, an LP statement, or a distribution notice.

Steps

1. Record and approve the terms. On the fund’s waterfall page, enter the structure and the tier cascade — preferred return rate, GP catch-up, and carry split — with the governing-document clause each tier comes from. A person must approve the terms before guidance can use them. Terms are entered by hand; reading them from extracted governing documents, escrow holdback, and per-LP carry exceptions are not yet available.
2. Enter the inputs. The capital LPs and the GP have contributed, and a distribution amount with its date — either a hypothetical figure or a planned real distribution you have not yet issued. Guidance runs against whole-fund terms.
3. Read the tier-by-tier allocation. Each tier shows the clause recorded for it on the terms, so you can trace every dollar back to the language that justifies it.
4. Know what guidance doesn’t cover yet. Cumulative carry earned to date, on a realized and an unrealized basis, and a forward look at when carry is expected to begin are not yet part of guidance output.

Using the output

Treat guidance output as a working document for GP, finance-team, and LPAC conversations — exactly what it is labeled as. When a real distribution is ready to go out, follow Issue a distribution; the actual carry split on that distribution is confirmed by your fund accountant or administrator, not read off the guidance screen.