Dental group month-end close: replacing the consolidation spreadsheet
A multi-location dental group month-end close slows where systems and practices meet. See where the days go and what changes with one multi-entity ledger.
A multi-location dental group month-end close often loses time at two connections: practice-management data to the ledger, and entity records to the group’s consolidated results. When those connections run on repeated manual work, the close calendar stretches.
This post covers where those days go, what changes when every practice sits in one multi-entity ledger, a close sequence that holds up as offices are added, and how to bring an acquired practice into it.
Key takeaways
- Look for close delays in four places: collections reconciliation, provider pay accruals, charges between entities and the consolidation workbook.
- Reconcile each office’s collections to its bank settlements during the month, so close week starts from agreed numbers.
- At month end, reconcile what each provider earned under their pay agreement with what has already been paid, and accrue the unpaid balance from the practice-management reports.
- With every practice in one multi-entity ledger on a shared chart of accounts, consolidation runs in the system instead of in a workbook rebuilt each month. The reconciliations stay; the rebuild goes.
- An acquired practice joins the close sooner when its accounts are mapped and its practice-management system is connected before its first close.
What we’ll cover
Where a dental group’s close loses time
In many multi-location dental groups, each practice keeps its own company file and the group’s monthly result is assembled in a consolidation workbook. Delays build up inside each practice and where its figures feed the group close. Check these four areas.
Collections. Practice-management systems such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft and Open Dental hold each office’s production, adjustments and collections. Finance needs those collections to agree with the office’s bank deposits, but insurance payments, patient card payments and checks settle on different days. When that matching is left until month end, everything after it waits.
Provider pay. Where associate or hygienist pay depends on production or collections, each month’s figure starts from that month’s practice-management reports and the agreed pay terms. Finance works out what each provider earned, takes off any deductions the agreement sets and any amounts already paid, and reconciles what is still owed.
Charges between entities. Where a management company provides billing, payroll, purchasing or marketing services, finance records its fees under the services agreement and allocates shared costs by the group’s documented methods. Some groups also hold their buildings in a separate property company that charges rent. Each charge needs matching entries in the entity that charges it and in the practice that pays it.
The workbook. Finally, someone exports a trial balance from every file, maps it to the group’s accounts and rolls it up. The mapping often lives in a workbook that one person fully understands, and every new practice adds a tab.
None of this means the team is slow. It is what happens when a structure designed for a single practice is stretched across many.
What one multi-entity ledger changes
In a multi-entity ledger, each legal entity keeps its own accounting records and statements, and office-level dimensions separate the locations that share an entity. A common chart of accounts ties them together for group reporting. The group’s consolidated view is produced inside the system, with drill-down to each entity, rather than rebuilt from exports.
- Consolidation in the system. The consolidation runs on group accounts and rules maintained in one place. A new practice joins the right entity and office structure instead of adding another worksheet. Intercompany charges can post to both entities from a single entry.
- Office-level detail. Tagging transactions by office gives each location its own results, even where several offices share one entity.
- A system audit trail. Each entry records who posted it and, where approvals are used, who approved it. Auditors follow that trail in the ledger instead of a chain of spreadsheet formulas.
- Connected practice-management data. Summarized figures can come in from each office’s practice-management system through an integration, which cuts rekeying, and patient-level detail can stay there.
The reconciliations remain. Collections still have to match deposits, intercompany balances still have to agree and accruals still need review. What changes is that the consolidation is no longer rebuilt by hand each month, and the close stops waiting on the workbook.
Sage Intacct supports dental groups and dental service organizations (DSOs) with automated multi-entity consolidation, built-in audit trails and open APIs that connect to practice-management systems such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft and Open Dental.
A close sequence that holds up as the group grows
A shorter close comes from moving work earlier as much as from the system it runs in. We recommend a sequence like this:
- During the month: reconcile collections to bank settlements by office at least weekly, and more often in busier offices. Work through timing differences, fees, refunds and deposits that cover several offices.
- At month end: review summarized production, adjustments and collections, reconcile ledger receivables to the practice-management aging report and explain reconciling items. Once the source reports are final, close or lock the month in the practice-management system.
- Early in close week: post lab, supply and other vendor bills to the correct office and period, accrue material costs not yet invoiced, then run management fees, allocations and intercompany rent where they apply.
- Before consolidating: reconcile intercompany balances and calculate unpaid provider compensation under each pay agreement, net of lab-fee deductions where the agreement sets them. Check the accruals against the supporting reports and payments already recorded.
- Consolidate and review: run the consolidation, compare each office with its own recent months, and follow up on unexpected differences before results go to owners, investors or lenders.
Write the sequence down and give each step an owner, so the close depends less on one person knowing how it all fits together.
Bringing an acquired practice into the close
Growing by acquisition is where the workbook hurts most. Each acquired practice brings a different chart of accounts, practice-management setup and provider pay arrangements. In a spreadsheet-based close, each one adds reconciliation work, and it can be months before its results are comparable with the rest of the group.
First decide whether the acquired practice joins an existing entity or needs new entity records, then map its accounts to the group’s reporting structure. Before its first close, agree the opening balances, reconcile its practice-management feeds, set up provider pay accruals and add the relevant intercompany and allocation schedules. In an asset purchase, confirm who owns the pre-sale receivables. If the seller retains them and the group collects them, track those receipts separately and remit them under the purchase agreement. Run its first close as a test before it moves to the group’s standard timetable.
How a multi-office dental group shortened its close
Perfect Dental Management had 17 offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire when its customer story was written. Its headcount almost doubled while the accounting team stayed lean, and its previous software’s multi-entity limits meant hours of unproductive manual work.
After deploying Sage Intacct, it reduced its monthly close from 15 to five days and cut multi-entity consolidations from three days to four hours. Automated multi-entity balance reconciliations reduced the risk of human error and the time needed to resolve a discrepancy. “We’re working smarter, not harder, with Sage Intacct,” said Allison Burks, its controller at the time.
Close time depends on people and process as well as software, and Perfect Dental showed what a lean team could do once its system supported a multi-entity structure.
Frequently asked questions
What slows a multi-location dental group month-end close?
Check four places: collections reconciliation, provider pay accruals, charges between entities and the consolidation workbook. Moving reconciliations into the month and automating repeated consolidation steps leaves less work for close week, though review and exception handling remain.
How do you reconcile practice-management collections to the ledger?
Reconcile practice-management collections to bank settlements, working from payment batches and remittance details, and explain the differences, such as settlement timing, fees and refunds. Where one deposit covers several offices, split it using the payment detail behind it. We recommend doing this at least weekly. At close, reconcile the summarized ledger postings and patient and insurance receivables to the source reports, and document the reconciling items.
How should a dental group accrue provider compensation at month end?
Calculate what each provider earned, by office, from the pay agreement and that month’s practice-management reports, net of any deductions the agreement sets. Subtract compensation already paid and accrue the unpaid balance in the entity responsible for the expense. When payment is processed, clear or adjust the accrual using the group’s posting method and reconcile the liability, so compensation is not recorded twice.
Read the Perfect Dental Management customer story to see how a dental group then running 17 offices cut its monthly close from 15 days to five.
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