Abstract: By expanding the yielding function according toTaylor series and neglecting the high order terms, the elastoplastic constitutive equation is written in a linear complementary form. Based on this linear complementary form and the principle of virtual work, a finite element-complementary method is derived for elastoplastic problem. This method is available for materials which satisfy either associated or nonassociated flow rule. In addition, the existence and uniqueness of solution for the method are also discussed and some useful conclusions are given.