Tune in to our podcast series: The Dental Board Room
Listen Now
Welcome back to The Dental Boardroom Podcast with Wes Read.
In this follow-up to our previous episode on structuring your Profit & Loss (P&L) statement with Wes Read CPA, CFP, we dive deeper into the how of using your financials strategically.
This episode walks you through 10 essential questions—or rather, areas of focus—to ask each month when reviewing your financial statements. These questions will help you uncover trends, evaluate performance, and guide your practice toward long-term financial health.
Wes also breaks down how to align your collections with personal financial goals like retirement and financial independence. He shares real-world advice on navigating fluctuations in revenue and expenses.
Whether you're a seasoned practice owner or new to analyzing financials, this episode is packed with actionable insights that will help you become a more financially empowered business owner.
Key Points:
How to read your P&L like a narrative, not just a spreadsheet
Monthly collection tracking: comparing last month, YTD, and last year
How to know if you hit your goals-based breakeven point
Strategies for consistent collection growth through marketing and operations
Identifying outlier expenses and validating through the general ledger
Why your practice financials should align with your life vision
Question 1: What were my collections last month and year-to-date (YTD), and how do they compare to last year?
Understanding variations in collections and what they indicate
Question 2: Did I reach my goals-based breakeven point for the month and year?
The importance of setting and measuring against personal financial goals
Question 3: How can I grow my collections consistently?
The role of marketing, operations, and planning in revenue growth
Question 4: Do any expense categories look too high or too low?
How to review the general ledger to validate expenses
Mindset: Be intentional about aligning your practice’s performance with your life goals.
Wes knows what's best for dental practices. He's been doing this for a long time and he sees lots of practices. He can tell me how our practice is doing, and what we can do to increase our productivity. With past CPA's, there were no ideas. It was all coming from me, saying "I think I can do better, but I don't know how." I come in to meet with Wes and he says "You CAN do better, and I know how."
PracticeCFO is in hundreds of dental offices around the country. They know what numbers should look like. They know what percentages of payroll, rent and supplies should be, and they will hold you accountable to those numbers, which will really help you stick to your plan and your path of growth and savings. That is invaluable
Whenever something comes up, whether it's building or practice related and we weren't sure where the numbers would go, PracticeCFO has been instrumental in helping us figure that out. I can't say enough of how important that is - that it goes beyond that initial partnership. They make sure this business marriage works.
When I go home from work, I don't spend a whole lot of time stressing about what my books look like, or how much I owe in taxes. By using PracticeCFO, the burden of keeping track of a lot of the big financial numbers and metrics are taken off my plate.
PracticeCFO helped me develop a plan for the future. I have colleagues that work with other accountants that don't have a plan - they just look at the numbers of the practice and that's it. There's no plan for 10, 20 years from now. But with PracticeCFO, you get that. PracticeCFO makes you feel like you're they're only client.
(In reference to his practice sale) What could've been super stressful, wasn't! When picking John and Wes, it was from word of mouth recommendations and other people's experiences from the past that really did it for me. And it turns out that those recommendations were right on the line.
Wes knows the business side of dentistry. His comprehensive plan will organize your personal and professional finances so you can focus on taking care of patients. Massive ROI.
I can’t say enough good things about everyone at PracticeCFO. Everyone on the team is professional, organized, knowledgeable, helpful and kind. They also respond to emails and phone calls immediately and are always happy to help. They have helped me navigate year-to-year as a business owner. PracticeCFO gives me peace of mind that my business is in good hands.
I love Practice CFO! They have helped me obtain a practice and maintain a practice. They are incredible people who are on top of everything and make owning and running the business portion of a practice easy. They couldn’t be better for my business and my sanity. They have every detail of the business and taxes taken care of where all I have to do is show up and follow their easy steps to success!
Practice CFO has the best tools I’ve seen for personal tax and financial planning in addition to top-tier corporate tax and accounting services. I have been very pleased with the level of quality service. They manage my monthly bookkeeping and accounts payable. It is a great system and saves me a ton of time, and it allows us to have monthly financial statements within a week of month end.
This will close in 0 seconds
