A 10 point financial health check for the ‘wellness’ of your Medical Practice – part 1

As medical practitioners you know full well the importance of that start of the year medical check – up. No doubt that you advise your patients to have their annual once over, especially as they begin to age, to ensure that there are not any tell-tale signs of things that could be going wrong in their bodies.

Prevention is better than cure and we couldn’t agree more. As Financial accounting professionals specialising in Medical practices, we tell our clients that prevention is better than cure in accounting practices too and that it’s not a bad idea to take stock of your financial well-being once a year, just as you do your health.

Obviously accounting practice is similar for all businesses, but there are obviously some differences when referring to private Medical Practices specifically. So here is your 10 point financial health check for the ‘wellness’ of your Medical Practice presented in 2 parts – in this article and the next…

The Budget

Beginning with looking back at what you’ve done in the last year – did you prepare a budget for the 2018 year and measure how your business performed in that year, versus your proposed budget? Budgeting can be a great business performance enhancer for your practice if correctly prepared.

Turn over – or ‘Sales’

Staying in the last year, how did your Medical Practice perform in terms of turn over, or as other businesses would refer to as ‘sales?’ – Is your turn over growing, stagnating, or decreasing?

Your bottom line

How profitable were you last year? Reviewing gross profit and percentage margins you’ll notice that even minor movements in your gross profit margin can severely impact on your bottom line. Review the expenses in your practice – it is not always about cutting, but managing expenses. Are you getting sufficient value from the expenses you incur?

Accounting systems

Do you have the management accounting systems to measure how your practice performed in 2018? – Without these you don’t know well your practice is performing, or what is working and what is not.

Is the accounting system of your practice accurate and up to date?

This is the foundation for the financial wellness of your practice!

Leave it to the professionals

You can, on the other hand, save yourself all the trouble of this ‘wealth check’ by simply placing your financial well-being in the hands of MFI, Financial Accounting professionals specialising in Medical Practice Financial Management.

As we have so often said (and it is no more appropriate than in the context of this article) as you focus on the wellbeing of your patients we take care of your financial wellbeing!
We keep a close eye on every aspect of your business and ensure that the financial aspect of your practice runs like a well oiled machine.

Watch out for the next 5 points of the 10 point financial health check for the ‘wellness’ of your Medical Practice in the next article – or simply contact us to ensure that in 2019 your practice is run by the Medical Practice Financial Management specialists!