Five reasons you should use a specialist dental accountant

Steph Gubas from our accounts department discusses the importance of finding a specialist dental accountant.

If you're running a busy dental practice, it's not always easy to find the time to review your accountancy services. But it's well worth the effort to look for a partner that specialises in your sector. It may end up making a difference to your bottom line.

Here at Page Kirk, our dental clients benefit from the fact we are members of NASDAL (National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers). NASDAL accountancy firms are able to offer advice on a wide range of issues relating to your dental business and understand the constraints within which you work.

1. Specialised tax accounting – you can be assured you can save the most on your taxes when working with specialist dental accountants. We are constantly in the loop with changes to regulations and ensure your taxes are constantly compliant with new laws.

2. Benchmarking – this is based on profit and loss. Specialist dental accountants will compare your profit-and-loss account against annual benchmarking data from the NASDAL annual P&L survey. Also, they can give you advice on improving your management practices. This service is only available to Page Kirk and other members of NASDAL, which is a huge advantage of using a specialist dental accountant.

3. Expanding business – when buying a practice for the first time, or as an established principal buying another practice, you need a specialist dental accountant to get involved. Here at Page Kirk we can help clients with:
   • Reviewing and negotiating on purchase price
   • Raising the finance
   • Providing budgets and forecasts
   • Establishing the structure of the business
   • Reviewing the purchase agreement
   • Setting it up
   • Liaising with solicitors

4. Selling a practice – whether due to retirement or other planning, a specialist dental accountant can provide advice on:
   • Reviewing and negotiating on the selling price
   • Tax planning and consequences of the sale
   • Reviewing the sale agreement
   • Liaising with solicitors

5. NHS Superannuation scheme advice – specialist dental accountants will know how to complete your annual ARR form whilst also ensuring they are aware of your pension contributions. This will make sure that you are getting the tax relief from your contributions each year. At Page Kirk, we always ensure that you are fully aware of all options regarding your NHS pensions and the pitfalls to avoid. There are restrictions on the amount of annual and lifetime contributions into pensions, which is one of the reasons why you should use a specialist dental accountant to stop you running into potential tax problems.

We advise dentists operating through different types of entities: associates, partnerships, cost-sharing principals and limited companies. Contact us for more information about our dental services.