Imagine this. You’re on track to have a dental practice with an ARR of $3 million. You’re casually going through the records and notice quite a few discrepancies, but you can’t make sense of things. Unfortunately, this happens far too often in the industry, scaring so many growing dental practice owners. In this blog, we’ll take a look at a few things that should scare you as a dentist and serve as a wake-up call to bring your business in line with industry practices.

Fear #1 – Lack Of Financial Direction

You’ve been building your business slowly but steadily over the years, but it still feels like running on a treadmill. So even though you’re putting in a lot of effort, you seem to be going nowhere.

Yes, the Cash is flowing in, but you’re nowhere close to your financial goals and on your way to building real wealth. So how can you remedy this, you ask? The answer is quite simple by working with a certified dental CPA.

You might think, I have a CPA already. So why do I need to change? The honest answer to that is – you don’t. However, a professional dental CPA brings loads of industry experience that helps you plan your personal finances, your business’s growth, and your family’s future.

The strategies and techniques employed by a professional dental CPA differ a lot from those used by regular CPAs who serve various clients across industries. Please speak to a Dental CPA in Maryland today to understand how they can help you get a clear financial direction for you and your business.

Fear #2 – Lack Of Benchmarking And Competitor Analysis

In your bubble, you might be doing phenomenally well. However, you may be nowhere close to achieving your full potential as a business owner in the real world. This is where benchmarking comes into play.

A dental CPA can put systems and processes in place that constantly monitor your revenue and expenses to ensure that you’re meeting and even performing better than the industry benchmark as a business owner. This benchmarking not only allows you to reach your financial goals quickly and systematically but also enables you to realize how much money you might be leaving on the table.

We’re here to help you understand your current standing and guide you on the right path to choose moving forward. Book a consultation with us today. The coffee is on us!

Fear #3 – Embezzlement

So many dentists think that no one on their team would embezzle money from them. After all, you trust them right. Maybe it’s a family member or an employee who’s been working with you for years. Unfortunately, embezzlement is a much bigger problem in the industry than you might imagine.

A business making about $1.2 million a year could easily have $50-70 thousand embezzled without even anyone realizing that the money is gone.

Signs Of Embezzlement From A Dental Office

  • A newfound wealth is flaunted by an employee.
  • The personality of an employee changes drastically.
  • An employee always arrives first and leaves last.
  • One of the employees is always taking work home often.
  • An employee is always working overtime without good cause.
  • An employee is very resistant to change and often controls things on a micro-level
  • A worker never takes any vacations, sick days, or personal days

How To Prevent Embezzlement?

As a rule, always check your finances frequently and have a second set of eyes go through them to ensure they don’t find any discrepancies you might have missed. Having a professional dental accounting firm or a dental accountant help you with quarterly audits is another excellent way of ensuring your dental practice doesn’t bleed money.

Fear #4 – Lack Of Take-Home Profits

Profit is the reward we get as entrepreneurs for the work we put in towards growing the equity in our business. Your business might have a phenomenal cash flow, but are you taking home the profits you deserve?

We often see dentists becoming employees of their own business and taking only a paltry salary instead of the dividends they deserve. Planning your profit distributions is crucial to ensure you take home what you deserve every month consistently.

Speak to a dental accountant in Maryland to understand how you can structure your business in a way that allows you to take home what you deserve.

Fear #5 – The Big Bad Tax Shock

You had a fantastic year revenue-wise, but now comes the time to pay up. Uncle Sam wants to take his fair share, but are you prepared to pay up? When running a smaller practice, many dentists don’t put aside money to pay the taxes,, which can lead to a huge tax surprise at the end of the financial year.

You can overcome this shock by planning your taxes and implementing tax-saving strategies that ensure you’re always prepared when the tax season comes. If you’re not sure how you can plan your taxes, allow us to help. We’ve helped multiple small and mid-sized dental practices plan their taxes optimally.

We hope this article serves as a guide to you and acts as the wakeup call you need to audit your finances. Speak to us today about our dental practice accounting services and how we’re able to help small, medium, and large dental practice owners save money and time.