Choosing the Right Bookkeeping System for Your Dental Practice: Insights and Recommendations

Good bookkeeping will help your practice stay successful and make money. It means keeping track of your taxes, income, and spending. You can’t expect your practice to grow and expand if you don’t have the right procedures in place. And who wouldn’t want to see the benefits of setting standards and goals that work? When you make bookkeeping a big part of your business, here’s what you can expect:

Stability in the finances:

Good dental bookkeeping gives you a clear picture of how your practice is making money. It’s easier to keep track of your income, expenses, and profits, and you can see where you can cut costs or raise your sales goals. You can make a budget and make smart choices about investments and spending after getting this information. A stable and profitable dental practice starts with good money management.

Planning a business:

Every day, dental bookkeeping aids in future planning. Your financial information can help you predict your income and cash flow, look for growth opportunities, and get ready for any unexpected money problems that might come up. If you know how your practice is doing financially, you can plan and make decisions that will help you reach your goals.

Related Topic: Healthcare Accounting vs. General Accounting

In what kinds of financial systems does a dental office work?

There are two main types of financial systems used in accounting and bookkeeping:

Receivables:

Consider how frequently your insurance pays you and how many patient bills are still unpaid. These give you most of your AR. As time goes on, your AR grows when insurance companies or patients don’t pay the full amount that’s owed. This number can get too big to handle over time, making it harder to collect. Most claims that are more than 90 days old will never be paid unless they are appealed and followed up on. It’s easier to forget about accounts that are a few months old when we are focused on the claims we need to make right away for patients.

Accounts Payable:

Do you still need to pay back loans or other debts? Then you have a clear picture of what your accounts payable are. The money you owe other people is called “accounts payable.” Whether that means patients, vendors, or the people who manage the property. As with your AR, this number will change over time based on your obligations, but if you pay close attention, it should steadily go down. It is important to compare your AR and AP to find problems with your dental practice’s cash flow and costs related to managing your money in general.

Is my area of practice important for accurate bookkeeping?

No matter what you do for a living, the way you set up your billing schedule affects your bookkeeping needs. Do you have set fees for each insurance company because you’re an in-network provider? If so, do you have a fee for the service schedule that needs to be carefully watched and kept up to date so that you can stay competitive? You need good accounting management for your practice to be able to separate and match payments, whether most of your patients pay in cash or through insurance. Each field needs a different way of managing money that can be tailored to it. For lack of this, you won’t be able to get what you’re owed or scale well.

How can I make my dental office’s bookkeeping easier?

If you want to make consistent and useful money as a dentist, outsourcing your bookkeeping is your best bet. You can focus on what’s important—the patients who walk through your door—if you don’t have to do as many things to keep your practice running. Velan Healthcare Solutions can help you with the accounting and bookkeeping for your dental practice. Since we are dentists, we know a lot about them. Our platform only has one purpose: to get you all the money you’re owed. A business development specialist can help you come up with a plan that you can follow to lower your AR and give you peace of mind in dental accounting and other fields as well. Set up a meeting with us today and tell us about your financial goals. There is a healthcare bookkeeping service provider called Velan that can help you get there right now.