Guest blog post by Omar Visram, CEO, Enkel Back Office Systems
In the competitive and ever-evolving world of dentistry, managing the financial health of your practice is just as important as providing top-notch oral health care. A skilled bookkeeper plays a pivotal role in ensuring that your practice not only survives day-to-day, but thrives over the long haul. This post aims to highlight the essential services every dentist should expect from their bookkeeper, ranging from accurate financial reporting to strategic financial planning.
Below are the 5 core things you should be getting from your bookkeeper:
1. Timely, Accurate Financial Reporting
At the heart of any successful dental practice is a robust system of financial reporting. A competent bookkeeper ensures the accuracy of key financial documents such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. These reports are vital for understanding the financial position of your practice, making informed decisions, and planning for the future. Accuracy in financial reporting also helps in identifying areas of improvement and growth opportunities, making it a non-negotiable aspect of bookkeeping.
2. Cash Flow Management
Cash flow is the lifeblood of your dental practice. Effective cash flow management involves monitoring the inflows and outflows of cash, ensuring that your practice has the necessary funds to operate smoothly. Your bookkeeper should excel in managing accounts receivables, timely invoicing, keeping track of expenses, and advising on cash flow strategies. This meticulous management helps in maintaining a healthy balance which is crucial for day-to-day operations and long-term financial health.
3. Payroll Management
Payroll management is more than just issuing checks to your employees. It encompasses handling tax deductions, maintaining employee financial records, and ensuring compliance with employment laws. A skilled bookkeeper will take charge of these responsibilities, ensuring that your payroll process is efficient, accurate, and compliant. This not only saves time but also minimizes the risk of errors and legal issues.
4. Budgeting and Financial Planning
A strategic approach to budgeting and financial planning is essential for the growth and sustainability of your dental practice. Your bookkeeper should assist in creating realistic budgets that reflect your practice’s goals and financial constraints. They play an important role in long-term financial planning, helping to forecast future revenues, plan for expansions or investments, and prepare for any financial contingencies.
5. Advisory and Analytical Insights
Beyond the numbers, a valuable bookkeeper/controller acts as an advisor. By analyzing your financial data, they can provide insights into your practice’s performance, identifying areas for cost savings, investment opportunities, and strategies for financial growth. This advisory role is instrumental in guiding your practice towards profitability and success.
Outsourcing Non-Core Functions: Bookkeeping
Unless you’re running a large, multi-site dental organization, odds are outsourcing your back office functions is the optimal path forward. Outsourcing bookkeeping services offers significant benefits for dentists, primarily by allowing them to focus on their core expertise: providing quality dental care. By entrusting financial management to specialized professionals, dentists get more accurate and efficient handling of their practice’s finances, from payroll and tax readiness, to cash flow management and financial reporting. This not only reduces the risk of errors and non-compliance but also offers valuable insights for better financial decision-making.
Moreover, outsourcing can be cost-effective, eliminating the need for in-house financial staff and associated overheads. Often overlooked, when you work with established bookkeeping firms, you get the professionals to do the work, but you also get established and proven processes. The best bookkeeping firms give you the benefit of best-in-class tools and technology for managing all of the back office functions (which would otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars per month). Ultimately, outsourcing your bookkeeping leads to improved financial health and growth opportunities for the practice, unburdening dentists from complex financial tasks and letting them concentrate on patient care and practice development.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a bookkeeper is far more than a number cruncher for your practice. They are a crucial part of your team, ensuring financial accuracy, compliance, and strategic planning. By understanding the diverse range of services a good bookkeeper provides, you can ensure that your practice is not just financially sound but also poised for future growth and success.
About Enkel
Enkel Backoffice Solutions is one of Canada’s leading accounting as a service providers. We offer bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable services to over 300 businesses and not-for-profit organizations across Canada, including a number of Canadian dentists. Our team of accountants and bookkeepers can help you manage your back office on an ongoing basis. Get the monthly reporting and financial visibility that your business needs.
About the Author
Omar is the co-founder and CEO of Enkel Backoffice Solutions, which he co-founded in 2016. For over 15 years, Omar has been active in the Canadian taxation, strategic planning, audit advisory, and finance operations disciplines within senior roles at KPMG and BCAA. Prior to founding Enkel, Omar worked to launch BCAA’s Evo car-sharing business by managing the fleet operations and customer experience teams from launch to full-scale operations
Omar holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University and is a qualified CPA, CA.
