Having your dental practice accounting up to date and well-organized is a must just in case you’re stricken with serious issues that prevent you from continuing work in your practice. Often, most of us lack the desire to prepare for the worst case scenarios. However unsettling the topic may be, having an ultimate exit plan makes an untimely and unfortunate event much easier for loved ones that are left behind to deal with the transition of our practice.
How Organized is Your Dental Practice for Unexpected Transitions?
For hypothetical Dr. X, it’s business as usual. The next day, Dr. X experiences a tragedy and is no longer able to practice dentistry. The world that his family and staff once knew had been turned upside down. Dr. X was very private with his business affairs and handled most of them by himself. Much of his financial life had to be reconstructed with forensic accounting. Bank accounts, passwords to computers and software, and accounts receivables / payables, were much more difficult to retrieve and reconstruct because he had not performed any advanced dental practice accounting or planning for the day that many of us don’t like to think about, or expect.
Instead of a smooth dental practice transition following this untimely event, the practice sputters while everyone scrambles putting the pieces together to maintain continuity for staff and patients. As a result, this very successful practice that had a value of $650,000 prior to the unexpected passing of the doctor, sold for closer to $300,000, resulting in a significant loss for the heirs.
This scenario can be avoided. Although it certainly may not be the most exciting event to plan for, effective dental practice accounting allows those left behind an easier road if you have left with an exit plan in place.
Thinking about Emergency Dental Practice Transitioning
When is the last time you thought about what would happen to your dental practice if tomorrow you were no longer there to answer those most important questions? What would your practice look like if you were not there? Are your financial affairs in order, just in case? Have you had a practice valuation in the last year? Do you have a written plan stored in a safe place that more than one person knows about and has access to?
Don’t put essential dental practice accounting procedures off another day. Contact your local ADS Florida representative who can assist you in being prepared for the unexpected. We can help by providing a written practice valuation with annual updates of all practice documentation necessary for transition. We also offer a comprehensive death and disability plan that will assist your heirs in the most comprehensive manner.
Then, make time to sit with your family so they are fully informed to ensure that things will run as smoothly as possible “just in case”.
