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Why Pet Hospitals and Veterinarians Hire Specialists

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In today’s world of specialization, more and more veterinarians and pet hospitals are hiring specialists to help them with legal matters, financial matters, insurance, practice brokerage and even real estate.

Veterinarian Law Firms

Veterinarian CPA Firms

Veterinarian Practice Insurance

Veterinarian Practice Brokerage

Veterinarian Practice Real Estate

In each of these cases, there are local generalists to provide these services and are located close to your place of business.  Typically, a local generalist handles everyone from retail businesses to construction to whatever walks in the door.  However, most savvy veterinarians will trade off location in return for a higher level of industry knowledge and expertise so they make the best decision relative to their competitors and minimize risk.

Whether you are a new veterinarian or a seasoned practitioner, there are law firms who are dedicated to the animal health industry who can save you tons of time and money by focusing on the animal health industry.  The same is true for veterinarian real estate, insurance and accounting/tax.  There are huge advantages to be gained by hiring a specialist who understands the nuances of the animal health industry.

For example, if you own a pet hospital, clinic or vet practice and suspect an employee is stealing cash, a generalist accountant would probably miss this and would not have a clue who to recommend as a specialist.  However, a CPA dedicated to the animal health industry knows a couple experts to recommend.  Or, hiring a VET CPA who has been trained on how to reduce the risk of fraud and theft can save you agony.  This kind of advice is priceless.

Here are several other ways an animal health industry CPA can provide a higher level of service to you:

  • Specialized tax planning techniques – The United States tax code is 67,204 pages long and there are 1,638 different forms. And as you make more money, the complexity increases dramatically which is why the US GAO says that taxpayers overpay $1 billion per year in taxes.  To simplify this, animal health CPA’s focus on aspects of the US tax code that are most advantageous to pet hospitals and veterinarian practices and share techniques that can be harnessed to lower your effective tax rate.
  • Purchase new equipment cost effectively – Animal health CPA’s understand how to finance equipment and expense it better.
  • Cost comparisons – Animal health CPA’s have the ability to compare your costs versus similar hospitals, clinics and vet practices your size so you can understand areas to save money. This covers labor, overhead, fees for services, production, accounts receivable, and more.
  • Due diligence on buying a practice – Most VET CPAs can help you avoid buying an overpriced or problematic business.

 

If you are looking to make the best business decisions for your animal health business, hire a specialist that understands our industry and has a network of experts to recommend as well.

 

VET CPA Association

All members of the VET CPA Association are licensed CPA’s and have been vetted.  In addition, each VET CPA firm is provided with advanced training in proactive tax planning which is well beyond the state requirements for being a licensed CPA.  This advanced training is designed to find loopholes, credits, deductions and strategies to lower your effective tax rate.  While these methods are legal, they often require extra work that a generalist CPA would never consider to offset the incremental time demands.

If you’d like to hear from a VET CPA who is best suited for your animal health business, complete this form today.

Top 7 Questions to Ask When Choosing an Accountant?

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The tax changes under President Trump have been major.  In fact, the tax law changes are the most significant tax changes in more than 30 years.  And given those major changes, many pet hospitals and veterinarians are stepping back and re-evaluating what is best for their current needs.

Here are a series of questions that you should be asking to make sure you are in the best tax possible position.

  1. When is the last time you attended a conference for the pet industry?
  2. What is the best corporate entity structure for my practice?
  3. Would I benefit from cost segregation study to lower my taxes?
  4. Should I establish a pension program for my practice and would it be cost effective?
  5. Should I consider captive insurance to lower my effective tax rate?
  6. Should I have more family members on the payroll?
  7. How does my practice compare to my peers?

If you are serious about your financial future, then you should be working with a VET CPA that not only focuses on the animal health and veterinarian industry but knows the best ways to lower your effective tax rate with proactive planning and strategies.

All members within the VET CPA Association attend at least one major conference a year along several tax planning conferences.  In fact, we had a couple members at the Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX) recently in Orlando and our group is represented within VET Partners as well.

If you are tired of working with a generalist accountant who does not understand your practice and would like to upgrade to a VET CPA, contact us today and we’ll make the introduction.

Embezzlement Is More Prevalent Than You Realize

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Fraud and embezzlement in veterinary practices and animal hospitals is far more common than any of us realize.  Yes, it will happen to you at some point within your office.

Recently, we had an expert speak to our association and the myriad of ways that embezzlement occurs in a veterinary practice or pet hospital and it was alarming.  All of the various ways they can steal is endless from stealing products, padding payroll, petty cash, employee advances, patient refunds, insurance checks, and even prescriptions.

Here are several ways to minimize your risk of fraud:

  • Background checks – All employees should be subject to background checks before being hired, especially office managers , receptionists and key staff. This is inexpensive and standard procedure for savvy vet practices and pet hospitals.  Most office fraud cases are caused by serial employees who repeat this crime and get better at their craft.
  • Digital time clocks – The days of submitting payroll manually are over. Your office should be using a digital time clock.
  • Inventory levels of products and supplies should be very tight and overseen by multiple people in your office.
  • Separate responsibilities so you don’t rely upon one key employee.
  • Ensure that multiple people can perform all tasks and ensure all employees take vacation. Embezzlers typically avoid taking time off and want to control all tasks.
  • Many embezzlers have a tight relationship with the practice owner. Physical or emotional.

In a nutshell, over 70% of veterinary practices and pet hospitals experience fraud, theft or embezzlement.  Unfortunately, most bad apples were identified but not prosecuted.

If you suspect embezzlement at your office, there is a process to follow before accusing any staff member.

VET CPA Association firms are another resource to contact if you suspect something is not quite right.  Our members have a process to follow and an independent fraud risk expert to help you at the appropriate time.

Best States for Veterinarians

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While there are many ways to determine where veterinarians have it best, here’s two different top ten lists.  The first ranking comes from Veterinarian’s Money Digest and second comes from Zippia.

Best States                                             Vet Money Digest

For Veterinarians                                Top Ten States                  Top Ten States (Zippia)

1                                                              Oklahoma                           Idaho

2                                                              Wyoming                            Pennsylvania

3                                                              Texas                                   Virginia

4                                                              Pennsylvania                     Rhode Island

5                                                              Michigan                            North Carolina

6                                                              Virginia                               South Dakota

7                                                              North Carolina                  New Mexico

8                                                              Indiana                               South Carolina

9                                                              New Jersey                        Indiana

10                                                           Idaho                                    Maine

 

And while there are many ways to analyze this, there are some patterns between the two lists.  These are Pennsylvania, Idaho, North Carolina, Indiana, and Virginia.

Tax Coaching for Veterinarians

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To better service the pet hospitals and veterinarian clinics, the Veterinarian CPA Association has embarked upon an aggressive education based program designed to lower the effective tax rates for veterinarians.  Simply said, all Veterinarian CPA Association members provide tax coaching and tax planning to minimize your tax responsibilities legally.

The  Veterinarian CPA Association tax coaching is most effective for:

  • Veterinarians making over $200,000 annually
  • Vet medicine practices with annual sales less than $4 million
  • Veterinarians willing to spend money to lower their effective tax rates

The Veterinarian CPA Association consists of independently owned CPA Firms that focus on pet hospitals and veterinarian practices.  We have no interest servicing the corporate side of the industry.

If you are tired of overpaying your taxes and would like to become proactive, then contact a Veterinarian CPA Association member in your region.

Hiring a Veterinarian CPA Firm vs Generalist CPA

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Similar to veterinarians, Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are licensed and regulated by the state.  They also have disciplinary review boards and continuing education requirements.

Typically, CPA Firms operate as generalists and work with everything from individuals to small businesses to non-profits to corporations.  And while being a generalist makes them well rounded, it can also be limiting if you want additional expertise like veterinarian benchmarking or fraud protection procedures.

Within the typical CPA practice, the Generalist CPA Firm will service lots of small businesses that use QuickBooks because it is the predominant accounting software program for small businesses in the United States.  However, they seldom have a concentration of businesses within any one industry so the industry specific insight is limited.  For example, a Generalist CPA firm will typically have a couple medical clients and maybe one veterinarian practice.  As a result, providing veterinarian practice coaching is not something they can reasonably provide because veterinarians comprise a very low percentage (less than 2%) of their overall mix.

Conversely, a CPA Firm that concentrates on the animal health industry can not only review QuickBooks, provide tax reduction planning, and provide best practices benchmarking for a veterinarian practice your same size, but should also provide insight into the best providers for:

  • Veterinarian Law Firms
  • Veterinarian Banking
  • Veterinarian Real Estate
  • Veterinarian Practice Brokerage
  • Veterinarian Fraud Control

If you are searching for a higher level of expertise at key points in your career, it really pays attractive dividends to align yourself with a CPA Firm that is focused on the animal health industry.  Below are some of the most important inflection points for hiring a Veterinarian CPA:

  • Incubator Stage – While attending vet medical school, it really pays to create the right professional relationships to overcome obstacles to veterinarian practice ownership.
  • Growth Stage (first five years of ownership) – Decisions ranging from office location to practice type to office staff can have profound impact on production, cash flow, client acquisition, and debt reduction.
  • Adolescent Stage – Decisions focused on technology upgrades, remodeling, office design, improved work flows, and improving clientele quality.
  • Maintenance Stage – Most of this phase focuses on saving for retirement.
  • Exit Stage – Most of this phase is focused on maximizing the value of the practice for sale.

The Veterinarian CPA Association is a proactive group of Veterinarian CPA Firms that attend veterinarian trade shows, participate in VetPartners, dedicate time to veterinarian industry education, provide vet practice benchmarking, actively put you into the best possible tax position, and can recommend the best veterinarian providers throughout the key stages in your career.  If you would prefer to avoid some bumps in the road and would like a higher level of expertise, then hire a CPA Firm that concentrates on the animal health industry and has gotten better with time by coaching veterinarians successfully through the vital stages of life.