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Home  /  Specialized / Industry-Specific  /  Dental practice accounting

Chair time, production, and a clean set of books.

Collections reconciled against production, the cost ratios dentists actually benchmark on, and a close that happens without you chasing it.

Dental practice accounting in Cedar Park, TX

Dental practices are measured on a set of ratios most accountants never look at. Production against collection, hygiene contribution, supply cost as a percentage of collections, lab cost against the procedures that generated it, and overhead against total collections.

Practice accounting means keeping the books so those ratios come out of the general ledger correctly rather than being estimated from practice management software that was never reconciled to the bank.

  • Production reconciled to collection

    What was produced, what was adjusted, and what was actually collected, tracked as separate figures instead of one blended revenue line.

  • Supply and lab costs isolated

    Coded to their own accounts and reported as a percentage of collections, which is how dental benchmarks are expressed and compared.

  • Hygiene tracked as its own centre

    Hygiene revenue and its direct costs separated so the department can be assessed on its own contribution.

  • Associate and owner compensation separated

    Associate pay, owner draws, and owner salary distinguished, so operating profit before owner compensation is visible and comparable.

Practices that benefit from this

Most independent practices, and particularly any practice going through a transition.

Single-location owner dentists

Where the owner is chairside all day and finance happens on evenings and weekends, if at all.

Practices with associates or multiple hygienists

Once more than one producer is generating revenue, blended figures stop answering any useful question.

Buying, selling, or bringing in a partner

Practice valuation runs on collections and adjusted profitability. Clean books materially affect the number and the speed of a transaction.

Bringing a dental file into shape

  • 1

    Reconcile the software to the bank

    Practice management reports and the general ledger tied together, which is where the first meaningful discrepancies almost always appear.

  • 2

    Restructure the chart of accounts

    Built around dental categories so supply, lab, hygiene, and associate costs report directly rather than needing to be extracted.

  • 3

    Bring the periods current and locked

    Cleanup where needed, then a proper monthly close on a fixed schedule.

  • 4

    Report on dental measures

    Monthly package covering collections against production, overhead percentage, and the supply and lab ratios, with movement explained.

Dental practices in a competitive Austin market

Dentistry across Cedar Park, TX, Leander, TX, Round Rock, TX, and Austin, TX is competitive, and practices there have absorbed real increases in staff wages and supply costs. Knowing your overhead percentage and where it is drifting is what lets you respond before it shows up in the year-end figure. We provide the same reporting to practices in San Diego County. Books and reporting sit with us. The annual return goes to an outside tax partner.

Questions from practice owners

  • What overhead percentage should we be running at?

    General practice benchmarks commonly sit in the low to mid sixties as a share of collections, but the useful comparison is your own trend rather than a national average. We report it monthly so drift is visible early.

  • Why does our software revenue differ from our accounting revenue?

    Practice management reports production and scheduled amounts. Accounting records collections. The two should be reconciled monthly rather than treated as competing versions of the truth.

  • Can you help us prepare for a sale?

    Yes. Clean, consistently presented books over two to three years and clearly separated owner compensation are what buyers and their advisers look at, and both take time to establish.

  • Who handles the practice returns at year end?

    An outside tax partner does. We keep the books current and provide the schedules they work from.

Related practice services

Healthcare and medical practice accounting

The same approach for medical and allied practices.

Read about it →

Monthly financial reporting package

Where the dental ratios get reported each month.

Read about it →

Business financial planning

Modelling a second chair, an associate, or an acquisition.

Read about it →

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Want your practice numbers to mean something?

Book a consultation and we will look at how your practice software and your books currently compare.

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