money matters
Why Understanding
CASH FLOW
is Essential to Your Dental Practice
If you are at all concerned, and I am
sure you are, with the health of your
practice, your profits and your peace of
mind, then you should be concerned
with your cash flow. While it’s easy to
look at cash flow as just money flowing
in and out of your practice, it really is
deeper than that. Cash flow is control,
and cash flow is choice.
By Erick Cutler
The connection isn’t immediate or obvious, but over the long
term, cash flow impacts your dental practice in multiple, fundamental ways.
Staffing. Chances are, if you’ve ever had to make a
staffing decision, the question of money came up. At
the time, you probably didn’t think that deciding
whether or not to give Barbara a raise was dependent
on your cash flows over the last year, but regardless,
it was. The same goes for the number of people and
clinicians you keep on board, their benefits, even the
educational and experience levels of staff members
you can afford.
Equipment and Technology. Dental patients are
demanding more and more advanced methods of
treatment, and of course, those cost money. Whether
you’re making technology and equipment purchases
out right or using debt, your ability to do so in a prudent financial way will depend heavily on the health
of your cash flows.
Outlook. If we’re being honest, day-to-day impact
of cash flow accumulates, meaning that the way you
and your staff feel about and make decisions around
the future of your practice will be impacted on a regular basis by cash flows. How you view the future of
your practice will be a factor in not only your decisions, but also in your staff’s and your ability to
attract productive dental talent.
18 NORTH TEXAS DENTISTRY | www.northtexasdentistry.com