And the QuickBooks Online reconcile feature will walk you through reconciling any account on your balance sheet. It also leaves you and your CPA historical reconciliation reports which CPA’s depend on for their review work. Give it a try if you haven’t, then add this to your checklist to be done every month.

At a recent convention, a dentist walked into a QuickBooks® workshop and asked why he should use QuickBooks instead of Quicken®. I’m always surprised at the number of times I am asked this question. Let’s discuss the important differences to clear up the confusion. Review your P&L statement month to month trends to see if you are meeting your goals but also to see where you stand compared to the industry. This is just to give you an idea of what our checklists look like and how they function.

So, which dental bookkeeping solution is best for you?

This may include an income statement, cash-flow statement, and other monthly financial statements. These are critical, as they let you track your performance, find areas to cut costs or increase income, or determine efficiencies and improvements. They also are useful for your accountant when filing taxes and required if you are audited. Sometimes the profit and loss statement may also be referred to as the P&L statement or income statement. Whatever you choose to call it, this statement keeps track of revenue. In the dental industry, this is typically reflected by looking at production and expenses.

Many financial systems have features that automatically synchronize with banks and credit cards. If you are using a financial system that offers this, the auto sync process will reduce the amount of time spent on data entry, especially in dental practices. Let’s talk about how WCG can provide timely and accurate financial statements… but let’s also talk about how we can help use those financial statements to leverage the most out of your dental practice.

Do I need to rent office space for my bookkeeping business?

When searching for professionals, you should look for a dental focused CPA who is responsive and talks with you often. They should update you regularly on your financials and walk you through them. Even though you may not want to go through your balance sheet, you want a CPA who will strongly encourage review of your financial statements.

Then, move on to other fundamental questions that help you understand the essential elements of their business structure. Whatever your recordkeeping system, just make it organized so your accountant
can easily find any information s/he is looking for. The only thing bookkeepers really don’t need are your personal receipts. Personal expenses should not be going through your business accounts. … OR buy my month end procedures eManual AND my bookkeeping checklists eBook for $22.50, a 10% savings. Depending on your location and business, you may need to calculate and pay sales tax or other taxes to the government.

Delegate tasks

As mentioned earlier, the main purpose of bookkeeping is to reconcile financial information and make informed decisions based on those results. As Jason often says, he can mow his own lawn and change his own oil, but he’d rather pay someone else to do it. Bookkeeping is a chore – some might actually enjoy it, but others might dental bookkeeping view it as something they’d rather hand off. However, if dental accounting is viewed as a chore by dentists, it happens to be WCG’s chosen profession. No one wants to be surprised with a huge tax bill out of the blue. For this reason, it is best to avoid waiting until March or April to find out how much you owe in taxes.

• We talked about how your cash flow may look different from what’s listed on your P&L statement.
• First, most dentists do not want to be accountants, but they do need to be business owners.
• Knowing your potential client’s motivating factors behind changing accountants could be the most important piece of information you need to ensure your firm meets the client’s expectations.
• Procurement of new patients, corporate dentistry competition, employee embezzlement, innovative marketing and back-office operation issues are just a few of the challenges plaguing dentists today.
• Generally speaking, some business owners have a fairly good pulse on where their money is going.
• Plus, planning ahead will make for a smoother, faster sale if that is your ultimate goal.
• ” which is why many business owners want to skip their review of the balance sheet and jump straight to the P&L statement.

Hiring a professional bookkeeper or bookkeeping services can help simplify and speed up daily and monthly bookkeeping duties. An accounting software solution designed for dental firms saves you administrative time that you would prefer to spend helping your clients. Dental Tax Accounting and Financial Solutions continuously find ways to improve the profitability of your dental practice; our bookkeeping for dentist’s services is one of the effective ways that we do this.

Your prospective client might be surprised by what resources, services, and tools you have available to help them with a wide variety of business issues. Asking open-ended questions can get potential clients thinking about the challenges and opportunities they face. The above communication requirements are a different sort of bookkeeping checklist but important all the same. Prior to December 14, 2021, this was an easy question to answer.

Depending upon the amount of information needing to be updated and the changes within the software itself, it could present data compatibility conflicts if you become further behind. QuickBooks does require version upgrading annually if you use assisted or complete payroll services. Using the proper accounting software provides critical insights to the health of your practice. Running your business properly includes making wise decisions about hiring staff, purchasing equipment, and so much more. In order to determine if you can afford to hire staff, make purchases, etc., you need to consult your financials. If your financials aren’t accurate and complete, you won’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions.

Are you up-to-date on changes in local tax laws?

Software manufacturers usually offer some type of training, and resellers may offer classes on the software as well. The software is a great help, but if it is not used properly, the results can be a nightmare to sort out. You need complete and accurate financial statements in order to make decisions.