How it runs for dental practices
Every deposit is tied to a day sheet or deposit slip, adjustments are rebuilt by plan, and deferred revenue and patient credits are stated at each month-end. You receive a clean opening balance and a list of open items.
What is catch-up bookkeeping?
Catch-up bookkeeping is a one-time project that records and reconciles months or years of transactions that were never entered. The goal is a set of books where every bank, card and loan balance agrees with the statement and every period can be reported on. It ends when the backlog is current and reconciled, usually followed by ongoing monthly bookkeeping.
What we handle for dental practices
- Rebuild collections and adjustments by plan from practice-management history month by month
- Tie every historical deposit to a day sheet or deposit slip net of fees
- Reconstruct lab and supply cost from supplier statements and case logs
- State deferred revenue and patient credits as of each month-end
- Deliver a clean opening balance and a year-end package for your CPA
The KPI that matters here
Every back month reconciled and reviewed, with patient credits and deferred revenue quantified at handover.
Dental compliance notes
HIPAA
Dental claims, EOBs and patient ledgers are protected health information. We sign a BAA, staff are HIPAA-trained, access to your practice-management system is role-limited with MFA, and the accounting file carries batch totals and claim numbers rather than patient names.
PPO and payer contracts
Each PPO agreement sets the fee schedule, what can be billed to the patient, coordination-of-benefits rules and how overpayments are returned. We record adjustments according to the contract and keep the fee schedules current so underpayments can be identified and refunds are handled the way the contract requires.
Patient credits and unclaimed property
Prepaid treatment that is not completed and insurance payments that arrive after the patient paid create credit balances. We age them monthly and prepare refunds for your approval, because unrefunded credits may become reportable unclaimed property under state law after a dormancy period.
Card data and patient financing
Our agents never take or store card numbers; patients pay through your terminal, portal or financing partner. Financing payouts from CareCredit, Sunbit or similar programs are reconciled net of the merchant discount, and promotional-plan terms are recorded so the cost of financing is visible.
Dental software we work in
- QuickBooks Online
- Gusto
- Bill.com
- Square
- Dentrix
- Open Dental
- Eaglesoft
- Dentrix Ascend
- All 50 platforms
More for dental practices
Other services for dental
Catch-up bookkeeping in other industries
Frequently asked questions
What records do you need for a dental catch-up?
Bank, card and loan statements, payroll registers, the practice-management system's monthly production, adjustment, collection and aging reports, financing partner payout statements, supplier and lab statements, and any lease or equipment agreements. We list what is missing after the first review and reconstruct what we can from the statements that exist.
Will a catch-up change my reported income?
It often does, because uncoded bank feeds count financing and virtual-card fees as revenue, miss deferred membership income, and treat prepaid cases as earned. Rebuilding from the day sheet produces revenue that ties to collections and costs that sit in the right month. Your CPA decides how any change affects prior tax filings; we provide the reconciled figures.
How long does a dental catch-up take?
It depends on the number of months, locations, bank accounts and payment channels, and on how complete the practice-management history is. A single location with financing and card statements available moves quickly; a group with a software change midway takes longer. We scope it after reviewing your data and run it as a fixed project with weekly updates.
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