Why bookkeeping is important for your medical practice

June 28, 2022

Working with an accountant and bookkeeper in Melbourne helps a business stay in control of its finances, while minimising business tax and other overheads.

Maximum Business Solutions works with businesses across a variety of industries, helping them keep afloat of their bookkeeping obligations and ensuring their business remains compliant come tax time.

This week, we’re taking a closer look at one industry in particular: read on to discover the importance of bookkeeping in the medical industry.

If you need help with your books, call Maximum Business Solutions now. We’d love to catch up over a coffee to learn a little about your business and see how we can assist.

What is medical bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping services in Australia include processes to manage and track the finances of your business.

Just like any successful business, no matter the products or services you offer, you need to track your expenses and costs in order to have a clear understanding of how business is performing and where your finances are sitting.

Bookkeeping for your medical practice includes everything financial such as invoices, bills, account receivables, a record of expenses, managing cash flow, competent payroll processing, and taxes.

We can clearly see from our experience that medical practices who work with a bookkeeper perform better as a business – the majority grow every year and enjoy greater insight into their profitability.

What’s involved when you work with a bookkeeper?

Your bookkeeper manages the revenue cycle and processes involved with billing your patients for their care, together with other financial tasks like managing all your costs and expenses.

For healthcare agencies, big or small, working with a bookkeeper means that even a high volume of invoices, bills, and expenses are managed accurately.

There’s a flow of invoices to patients for services rendered as well as helping to collect payments, and all services are coded properly in the financial management system so they can be accounted for. This means that the overall functioning of the business is smooth and potential bottlenecks are removed.

What is the importance of bookkeeping and accounting in healthcare?

While you’re focused on your patient’s health, your bookkeeper is there to support the business’ needs.

As a business owner you have a number of financial obligations you must keep controlled, and trusting a dedicated bookkeeper and accountant will help you stay in control of your responsibilities.

Maximum Business Solutions take the weight off your shoulders, and we also go one step further – we see our role as adding as much value as possible, while by highlighting trends we can help you better run and grow your business, too.

We see our role as more than just taking care of financial tasks; we care about you and your business, and we’re here for the long haul to help your business thrive.

What are the responsibilities of bookkeeping in a hospital?

A bookkeeper can help you keep an eye on where your money’s going

Expenses can easily accumulate, from small day to day costs that casually accrue to bigger responsibilities like utilities or payroll.

Our medical bookkeeping services include invoicing, debt collection, and balance sheets so you can focus on running your business, while we take care of the numbers.

You can see if you’re profitable

Are you actually making money?

Regular revenue into the business may not be enough due to mounting expenses and costs – keeping an eye on the balance sheet can certainly feel like a full time job!

A bookkeeper can keep track of all your expenses, costs, and revenue and let you know where you’re setting week-to-week so you can make strategic changes and improvements in the day-to-day running of the business.

Payroll, Insurance and Taxes Monitoring

All numbers recorded on your accounts must be accurate. If your staff are busy prioritising patient care, the financials may not be 100%.

The key information a bookkeeper can audit and ensure is accurate, as required by law, may include:

  • Patient information
  • Insurance information
  • Tax information

Accurate scheduling for payables and receivables

There are some things that need to be paid immediately, some on specific payment terms and others that change month-to-month – likewise you may need to chase instalments from insurance companies and invoices.

As a bookkeeper, we know how important it is to know what’s due in, when, and what’s going out and when, to make sure you always have a steady cash flow in the business.

Reports allow you to prepare the business for shortfalls of cash to cover payments due, and to monitor any overdue accounts, so you make the necessary follow ups or withdraw services from those businesses or patients.

Decision-making data

Most of all, bookkeepers and accountants give you information: financial statements are a wealth of information about what is actually happening in your business.

While you may think things are going well or perceive them to be going downhill, the facts speak for themselves and give you the information you need to make well-informed decisions about your business.

Financial statements help you decide which areas of the business are profitable or operating at a loss, and therefore where you need to focus your efforts.

You may need to make cut backs and keep a closer eye on things or you may be operating with a healthy profit margin. Find out where you’re sitting and get the information you need when you need it with our experienced and skilled bookkeepers.

Should you hire an internal bookkeeper or outsource your finances?

For a large hospital, having a bookkeeper employed full time is essential due to the huge volume of transactions day-to-day which would be impossible to manage otherwise.

For a private practice, mid-sized hospital, or smaller medical facility you can consider outsourcing your bookkeeping to a team you can trust.

Keeping a much-needed eye on the business is an amazing asset to your practice without the cost of a full-time employee.

Your bookkeeper can perform the same main functions, providing you with the necessary reports and information to add value to the day-to-day performance of your business.

Regardless of whether you choose Xero bookkeeping services or MYOB bookkeeping services, you can be confident that, when combined with a skilled bookkeeper, these applications help create a positive impact on your medical practice.

From day-to-day expense tracking to payroll and tax, your bookkeeper will seamlessly become an indispensable part of running your business.

If you’d like to learn more about our bookkeeping services, get in touch with us today. Call (03) 9589 0128 or get in touch with us online and tell us a little about your business and how you think we can help!