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When you first started your veterinary practice, you kept close tabs on its financial health. You probably wrote the checks
yourself, drove the deposits to the bank, and could tell anyone who asked exactly what your bank balance was on a daily basis.
Then the practice started to grow and you got busier. Maybe you hired a bookkeeper or a practice manager to handle the finances.
So are you still in touch with your practice's bottom line? What about your reminder system—how effective is it? How many
dental cleanings did your practice perform last month? Are you in touch with what your clients think about your practice?
Would you know if a team member were embezzling from you?
It's not hard to get the answers to these questions. Just look at a few reports regularly. On the next pages are the must-see
list of reports and procedures you should think about daily, monthly, and at least annually to stay in the know about your
practice's current state and its future promise.
Part of every working day should involve a few minutes spent looking at that day's important numbers. These include:
Mark Opperman, CVPM
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1. Transactions. Who paid for what, and how much? One of the most important reports a practice owner looks at daily is the itemized audit
trail. This sheet—generated by your veterinary software—lists every single transaction entered in the computer that day. Clients'
names, services and products invoiced, amounts charged, and if and how they were paid for are all included.
Negative transactions are a red flag. If a client didn't pay for services or if there was a void or a refund, it'll show up
on the itemized audit trail. Say a receptionist created a negative invoice and removed that money from the cash drawer. The
cash register would balance at the end of the day, but the negative transaction would appear on the itemized audit trail.
And that would be your signal to investigate—to question and verify whether the negative transaction was valid. After all,
you're the one on the hook financially.
2. Nonstandard fees. The fee exception report is a crucial barometer of internal compliance. It lists every charge that's more or less than the
standard fee in the computer and shows you when other doctors or team members aren't complying with the fee schedule.
3. Delayed payments. You should look at the accounts receivable report daily. Has it increased or decreased from yesterday? Were the charges today
authorized or not? Accounts receivable can get out of hand quickly. Keep your eye on it.
The bottom line
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4. The end-of-day report. Don't leave this to your bookkeeper or practice manager. Ultimately, it's your responsibility to prevent embezzlement and
verify what money changed hands that day. Create accountability every step of the way at the end of the day with a process
like the following:
At the end of the day the receptionist counts the cash drawer back to the base amount the hospital started with. He or she
then runs the report that shows the day's cash, checks, and charges. If all is correct, he or she then completes the end-of-day
report and gives the deposit to the practice manager, bookkeeper, or practice owner. If the totals aren't correct, the receptionist
tries to find the error. If the mistake isn't found, the receptionist still counts the cash drawer back to its base amount
but also notes on the deposit how much it's over or under. The deposit is then taken to the bank, and the bank receipt is
attached to the end-of-day report along with the credit card transaction report.
The total on the bank receipt along with the credit card transaction report should equal the end-of-day report total. If everything
is OK, the practice owner initials the report and returns it to the bookkeeper so it can be filed away. If things don't match
up, the practice owner must investigate.
If you want a deeper list of daily reports, check with your veterinary software provider. If you're feeling ambitious, there
are many more reports you can print out and review each day to make sure your practice is in great financial shape.
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