Accountants for Veterinary Practice Owners
As an owner you are three things at once: a clinician, a manager and an investor. Most accounting advice addresses the first two and ignores the third, which is where the largest sums usually sit.
We work on all three together, because a decision about drawings is also a decision about reinvestment, and a decision about reinvestment is a decision about what the practice is eventually worth.
The Questions Owners Actually Ask
- How much can I take out?
- Set against tax reserves, planned equipment spending and the working capital the practice needs, rather than against the bank balance.
- Salary or dividends?
- The mix depends on profit level, pension plans, borrowing and what you intend to do with the practice. It is worth revisiting every year rather than setting once.
- Should I buy the premises?
- A significant decision with consequences for tax, borrowing, retirement income and what a future buyer is buying. It is worth modelling properly.
- What is the practice worth, and when will it be worth more?
- A number most owners guess at. Knowing it changes what you do in the years before you need it.
- When can I stop?
- The answer depends on the practice value, your pension position and what you would net from a sale, and those three are rarely looked at together.
Reporting Built for an Owner, Not an Accountant
You do not need a trial balance. You need to know whether margin is holding, whether the team is the right size, what the cash position will be in three months, and what tax is coming. We report those.
The corollary is that we will not send you a twenty page pack. A pack that takes an hour to read gets read once. Six measures with commentary and a short list of things to look at gets read every month, which is the whole point.
The Investment Question Owners Rarely Ask
Most owners think of the practice as a job that also pays a profit. It is also the largest asset most of them own, and the two views lead to different decisions.
Taking every pound out each year maximises income now and leaves a business that is worth less and harder to sell. Reinvesting in equipment, team and systems reduces this year income and builds something a buyer will pay for. Neither is right in the abstract. What is wrong is making the choice by accident, which is what happens when nobody has put a number on what the practice is worth.
- Know the number before you need it
- A valuation five years before a sale changes what you do in those five years. A valuation the week a buyer appears changes nothing.
- Understand what is driving it
- Owner dependency, team stability and the quality of your records move the price more than a good trading year does.
- Model the net position, not the headline
- What you keep after tax under each exit route is the figure that matters, and the routes differ more than owners expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you handle personal tax as well as the practice?
I have been approached by a corporate group. What should I do first?
Get the Practice and Personal Picture in One Place
Tell us where the practice is and what you want from it. The first conversation is free and usually changes at least one assumption.