(FORTUNE Magazine) – In 1993, Goldman Sachs made a stunning $2.3 billion in profits (before personal income taxes payable by each partner). The share going to even the most junior of partners is believed to have been at least $5 million. But that's history and this is 1994, which has been the dregs for most securities firms. When Goldman's fiscal year winds up at the end of this month, net income will be low-grade. That certainty stems from Goldman's poor profits for the nine months ended in August -- roughly $500 million -- and some red ink that has since flowed from volatile interest rates. November, of course, remains to be played out. But say the final net is $500 million. That would be only 10% on the firm's start-of-year capital, vs. a colossal 62% return in 1993. It would also be the lowest profit of the last decade (see chart). Even then, Goldman's 150 general partners couldn't lay claim to the whole $500 million. The amount doesn't include interest the firm pays on its equity, called "partners' capital," which was $5 billion at the start of the year and came from a bevy of limited partners as well as the general partners themselves. Past Goldman financial statements suggest these interest costs could exceed $500 million for 1994. Subtract that from net income, and it appears that the general partners may find themselves sitting with a smaller capital account at year's end than they had starting off. That rude and unfamiliar prospect explains why persistent rumors have been circulating on Wall Street that Goldman's management has recently put pressure on the firm's general partners to ante up additional capital. But Goldman insists the rumors are categorically untrue. The tumult hasn't kept 58 Goldmanites from accepting the firm's invitation to join the partnership rolls as the new year begins. On the other hand, more than 20 existing partners are expected to pull out. One sure departee is senior partner Stephen Friedman, 56, who startled the Street in mid-September by announcing that he would retire. Fatigue, he said, was a reason (for more, see Executive Life). Into the job steps trader Jon S. Corzine, 47, who will try to get the firm back on the Goldman standard. Swimming in its 1993 success, the firm pushed up head count sharply. It is now cutting back. Down the road Goldman will surely revisit the idea of going public, thereby gaining permanent capital. But Corzine has said that a stock offering isn't "practical" right now. You need profit updrafts, not downdrafts, to go public.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: FORTUNE CHART/SOURCE: COMPANY DOCUMENTS CAPTION: Goldman's Profit Drop