Purchasing a Dental Practice: What to Know

It is a very important that you give yourself due consideration in deciding where to buy, how to go about it, and what kind of practice to purchase.

Take your Time

Pace yourself. You are building the foundation of your future. Where do you want to live, how responsive will the community be to your new practice, how much of a rapport do you already have with the community?

Find the Best Location

Where is it that you would like to live? You’ll want to be a big part of this community, so you’ll need to make sure it’s a good fit. Establishing a connection with the locals will help your business succeed. A short to medium commute is an important consideration. No one wants to face a long round-trip commute year after year.

What sort of community is the right fit for you and your family? Suburbs? Intercity? Rural? Consider where your competition is. This is a major indicator of your likelihood of running a successful dental practice. Other issues are whether or not your spouse needs to find work, and the quality of the school system in the area.

Choose the Ideal Practice for You

Consider: size and type, Are you interested in specialized dentistry practice, or a generalized dental practice. Who is your competition and is there room for your particular niche? Set in place a meticulous business plan.

Get the Proposed Business Appraised

Get a CPA or CVA to perform a business appraisal on the proposed business purchase. Then you’ll have an informed point of view going into things. This will help ensure you are within the means of your projected income.

Enlist Support

Just as your business cannot operate without the support of patrons, you’ll never realize your full-potential without the aid of experienced professionals. You’ll have to rely on the expertise of others as your patrons will have to rely on you. Trusted advisors can save you plenty of trouble. Here are a few people you’ll need:

• A certified public accountant experienced in advising dental care practices and other small businesses on saving tax dollars and remaining tax compliant. You should seek a CPA who can help you establish tax-saving strategies. You’ll want a certified public accountant to advise you on how to structure your dental practice (S corporation, C corporation, limited liability company (LLC), professional limited liability company (PLLC), sole proprietor).
• A Bookkeeper who is experienced in a bookkeeping software system like Quickbooks. A certified Quickbooks Advisor means they are certified by the manufacturer of Quickbooks (Intuit Corporation) as proficient with the accounting software.
• Legal counsel to protect your interests and review documents.
• A consultant also would likely prove invaluable in helping you keep on schedule and achieve goals.
• At the start you should establish a relationship with a bank. Getting prequalified, and ready to finance, helps you keep perspective on how much you can afford and how to put in a good offer.
• An insurance agent will evaluate risk and assess the value of your business to see just how much coverage you’ll need.
• It is a smart idea to seek the counsel of a mentor or business confidant of some kind, perhaps a veteran dentist who once went through the same process you’re going through now.
• A marketing pro that knows online marketing.

Be prepared. Be a researcher. Trial and error is not the way to proceed.

Tax CPA John Huddleston has a law degree and masters in tax law from the University of Washington School of Law. He has been a guest tax expert on the radio. He advises small businesses in the Seattle Bellevue Tacoma & Everett area on various tax and accounting issues. His firm, Huddleston Tax CPAs, also provides tax preparation service, quickbooks consulting, business valuation, general accounting and bookkeeping service. Profile information on CPA John Huddleston and the CPAs employed by Huddleston Tax CPAs is available at CPA Tax Accountant Profile. Seattle Bellevue Tax CPA John Huddleston is a frequent publisher of tax saving ideas.