Mastering Veterinary Practice Budgeting

Budgeting for Veterinary Practices

• Budgets should not be set by one person alone; involve those responsible for generating and spending money.
• Staff involvement in budgeting leads to better understanding and compliance with budget goals.
• Income should be planned and managed just as expenses are, with a targeted approach to income budgeting.
• Practice turnover is dependent on case load and fees, which should be analyzed in detail for budget planning.
• Projected case volume multiplied by new prices gives expected turnover, which reflects practice objectives.
• Product sales should be included in budget planning, grouped by type and estimated by percentage change in sales volume and price increases.
• Expense budgeting involves questioning historic costs and allocating budgets to expense centers.
• Fixed costs (e.g. rent, insurance, equipment leasing) remain the same regardless of practice turnover or caseload.
• Variable costs (e.g. bank charges, laboratory fees) change directly with turnover or caseload.
• Budgeting using a spreadsheet allows for automatic updating of percentages as budgeted turnover changes.
• Staff car expenses can be changed from budgeting for tax, insurance, servicing, and fuel to paying a mileage rate for use of their own cars.
• Staff wages are fixed for a smaller range of activity and may require hiring more staff as caseload increases.

Budgeting for Cash: The Importance of Cashflow Forecasting

• Cashflow is vital for a business, and a cashflow forecast should be created alongside a profit and loss budget to identify potential cash crises and strategic investment opportunities.
• A cashflow forecast must take into account debtor and creditor terms, VAT payments, capital expenditure, tax payments, and partners' drawings.
• The final budget should list turnover and expenses on a month-by-month basis, but the cash relating to these activities will not necessarily be received or spent in the same month.
• Debtor days should be used to anticipate when income will be received, and expense payments should be adjusted based on normal creditor terms.
• Cashflow forecasts can be used to illustrate the effects of improved or worsening fee collection strategies.
• All income and expenses in a cashflow forecast should be recalculated to include any VAT elements.
• The VAT itself will have to be paid to the HM Revenue & Customs and should be included at the appropriate interval, usually every quarter.
• Capital payments and partners' drawings must be added to the bottom of the cashflow forecast.
• The cashflow forecast should show the projected cash balance, with the opening bank balance entered at the start of the period and carried forward for each month by adding inflows and deducting outflows.
• The cashflow will highlight the ups and downs of practice funds, and cash-rich or -poor months can be identified to avoid overspending in good months.
• Examining an average month's cashflow in detail can provide insight into daily ups and downs, and changing the due date of account clients can avoid sudden dips in funds.
• Checking monthly bank statements is not effective for monitoring cashflow; a running total of cheques written and banking deposits is necessary to ensure that the business is staying afloat.