Veterinary Practice Management Skills: Quality Financial Statements

If just the thought of trying to pull together new financial statements is overwhelming, it’s time to put a plan in place. Having accurate and up-to-date financial statements at your fingertips whenever you need them is the best expression of your solid management skills to a potential lender or investor. It shows you are managing the small details that add up to a successful bottomline.

A financial statement that is difficult to read, has mistakes, or has outdated information reflects badly on the practice owner. Unfortunately, every lender has seen more than their fair share of poorly executed statements.

Need help?

If you’ve been busy running your practice and need help getting your management processes on track, here are some ideas to help:

• Collaborate with your talented team of business professionals: No one is an expert at everything. Your practice/office manager, bookkeeper, and accountant can help you put together a plan to organize and execute it to better manage the financial aspects of your practice. They can help you update your current financial structures for reporting and support you by doing specific day-to-day tasks.
• Evaluate and integrate your current practice management and/or billing systems with an accounting software systems built for small businesses such as QuickBooks^®. In addition to providing a place to capture all your financial information, it offers automated functionality for recurring bill payments, overdue invoice reminders, and the creation of important documents, such as 1099s. One of the best things is that it has templates that allow you to produce financial statements, including these essentials:
  • Income Statement
  • Balance Sheet
  • Cash Flow Statement
  • Supporting details for expenses, inventory, payroll, and accounts receivable/aging

You can only manage what you measure – so create the infrastructure and support team to make it happen.

Be ready for your next opportunity

Opportunities present themselves when you least expect it, so having well prepared financial statements at your fingertips to share with an investor or lender can pay off. Quick access to detailed and accurate financial information will set you and your practice apart from the competition – and show off your important management skills.