A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of speaking at ECU’s School of Dental Medicine. We spoke to third year students that were taking a Practice Management Course. This course specifically covers business aspects, such as business financial statements, personal finance and other management related tasks.
We wanted to cover topics that we see dentists either struggle with or topics that they often have not thought of. We know that if we can educate them at such an early stage, they will be destined to have a successful career. Our topics included the differences and tax implications of a W-2 employee versus a self-employed practice owner. We delved a little deeper into practice ownership and discussed the different entity types (Schedule C, S Corporation and Partnership) and tax implications of each. The conversation then led us to a discussion of what to consider when purchasing an existing practice versus starting a practice from the ground-up. One of the most important items we discussed was tax planning because we feel that it is best to be proactive throughout the year. Some of the tax planning tools we discussed were Section 179, Retirement Plans, Health Insurance, Owning versus Renting a Building and S Corporations. We then did a review of financials to show how everything ties together from the balance sheet to the profit and loss to the statement of cash flow. We wrapped up the presentation by discussing the role of a Chief Financial Officer, including a virtual CFO, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Our main goal was to provide valuable information to dental students to help guide them in their career. Based on the questions and types of questions they asked throughout our presentation, we know that we presented them with items they had not thought of yet. We are looking forward to our next presentation to residents at ECU’s School of Dental Medicine in February.