Your public reputation is excellent. You’ve worked hard to keep up-todate so you know you have the skill set. Your practice is in a good geographical location servicing an ever-growing demographic. You are performing interesting, quality work. Your practice premises has new levels of equipment and the reception layout looks great. You have successfully expanded and integrated more staff including hygienists and employee dentists. In short, you are doing everything right.
You think your personal evaluation might be a little subjective so you check with your practice manager, your bookkeeper and your accountant. Each of them tells you your profit figures and your key ratios are looking good too. This is your objective test satisfied. After all, figures don’t lie and so you get back to doing what you do best.
However, you’re just not sure that everything is as it seems or should be. You are doing well but you feel you could be getting a little more return for all the hard work and stress of running your own show. You would like to understand some of your accounts and financial ratios and practice business procedures a little better but you don’t have the time, inclination or expertise. After all, that is why you have a practice manager, a bookkeeper and an accountant!
However, if your instinct is telling you something is amiss, then you should make the time to act on it and follow through, particularly if you are not 100% sure of what your finance and practice staff are saying and doing or there are some inconsistencies in what you see and hear from those you have involved in your practice’s operating and financial affairs.