While getting more patients through the doors of your clinic is important, true profitability is about a lot more than just that.

By planning and managing your finances in a strategic manner, you can make your dental practice more profitable, and the good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. Working with the best dental accountants can help facilitate your financial success:

Accountants, strategic insights, and your financial success

With a solid financial plan put in place for your practice by dental accountants, you can achieve the following:

• Enjoy a healthy cashflow to cover all expenses
• Make investment plans for equipment and technology
• Better manage downturns or unexpected costs
• Make informed decisions about staffing and salaries
• Take advantage of industry-specific tax benefits and deductions

Key components of a strategic financial plan

The following are necessary for the creation of a strategic financial plan for your dental practice:

• Budgeting and forecasting

An essential element of financial planning, dental practices must create budgets by assessing their annual revenue and expenses, and making predictions for its financial performance in the future. Historical data can be used to forecast income and expenses accurately, and regular revisits to the budget are strongly recommended.

• Cashflow management

By effectively managing cashflow, practice owners can help meet all of their obligations, including such things as the buying of supplies and payroll. To optimize cashflow, your accountant will encourage you to invoice promptly, and will follow up on any payments that may be outstanding. They may also recommend that you keep a cash reserve for unexpected expenses, and evaluate your pricing to make the most of your income, while preserving patient loyalty.

• Tax planning

Dentists can significantly lower their tax burden by taking advantage of deductible expenses, many of which are industry-specific. With guidance from a dental tax expert, you can take full advantage of all available deductions and credits.

• Planning for retirement

Although you may not want to think about your retirement, planning for this time is an important part of the planning process if you’re to enjoy wealth and financial security in the long-term. A dental accountant might recommend that you set up a SEP IRA or 401(k), and contribute to it regularly.

• Financial analysis

With financial statements and metrics, you can assess the performance of your dental practice on a regular basis, and make decisions for the future of your business that are better informed. Many dental accounting firms offer financial consultatory services, too. 

• Targeted marketing

There are plenty of marketing strategies practice owners can use to attract local patients, such as SEO, and the creation of content that is targeted directly at the local community. Encouraging patients to leave reviews online can also help you build local credibility.

• Outsourced bookkeeping

There is a lot of administrative work involved with running a dental practice, but by outsourcing to a firm who specialize in bookkeeping for dentists, you can keep your books tidy and organized, without sacrificing patient care.

As much as you may love your profession, and enjoy helping patients achieve their dental goals, you probably wouldn’t devote as much time to it if you couldn’t also make money from it. After all, few dentists are in a position to offer their services for free, as much as they may want to.

A profitable practice can help you give more to charitable causes, help you enjoy your retirement, and help you provide financial stability for your family, and by working with specialist dental accountants and bookkeepers, you can achieve all of this, and more.