Bookkeeping for Dentists in Australia

How dental bookkeeping usually works

Start with a short review of your current position: business structure, bank accounts and merchant facilities, practice management workflow, software setup, and any urgent deadlines (BAS, payroll, or tax). Then move through three stages: triage, process design and ongoing review.

Triage addresses urgent items such as unreconciled bank feeds, missing BAS, payroll/STP corrections, associate payouts and aged receivables clean-up. Process design sets up daily close procedures, HICAPS/Tyro reconciliations, correct GST coding and clear cut-offs for associate/service fee calculations. Ongoing review locks in a monthly rhythm: reconciliations, payroll and super checks, variance analysis and KPI reporting.

Australian context to keep in view

• Most clinical dental services are GST-free; cosmetic-only procedures and retail sales are generally taxable. Mixed supplies require accurate coding for BAS.
• Daily settlements via HICAPS/Tyro/private health funds should be reconciled to invoices, gaps, write-offs and fees so collections and AR are reliable.
• Payroll must comply with STP Phase 2. Check awards, overtime, allowances, super on OTE and leave loading. Super is generally due by the 28th after quarter-end.
• Associate arrangements (service fee/commission) need consistent documentation and ledger treatment to avoid payroll and GST mistakes.
• Reliable bookkeeping shortens year-end tax work, improves cash flow visibility and supports lender or landlord reporting requests.

Dental software and integrations

Many Australian clinics run Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks Online alongside practice software such as EXACT (Software of Excellence), Dental4Windows, Oasis or Praktika. Add-on tools like Dext/Hubdoc support invoices and receipts, while payment platforms and terminals (HICAPS, Tyro, EFTPOS) handle gap payments and settlements.

• Use daily end-of-day reports from your practice software to post summaries that match bank feeds.
• Record merchant and fund processing fees against the correct expense accounts.
• If you use payment plans (e.g. buy-now-pay-later or finance), reconcile net settlements and fees back to patient invoices.
• Maintain separate clearing accounts for funds in transit to keep AR and bank balances clean.

What to compare before you commit

KPIs for dental practices

Well-structured bookkeeping enables meaningful metrics. Popular benchmarks include:

• Production per chair/hour and collection ratio
• Recall effectiveness and new patient flow
• Wages (clinical + admin) as a % of fees
• Dental supplies and lab fees as a % of fees
• Associate payouts/service fees as a % of associate production
• Days sales outstanding and refund rate

Practical chart of accounts for clinics

Use clear income and expense categories so GST, BAS and KPIs remain simple:

• Income: Clinical fees (GST-free), Cosmetic fees (taxable), Retail/product sales (taxable)
• Cost of sales: Lab fees, Dental supplies/consumables, Sterilisation
• Operating: Merchant/HICAPS fees, Equipment leases, Repairs & maintenance, Marketing, Rent, Insurance
• People: Wages (clinical/admin), Superannuation, Payroll on-costs, Associate/service fee expense

Best next steps

Decide what you need first: a one-off clean-up and BAS catch-up, a daily/weekly close process, payroll and super checks, or monthly reporting with KPIs. Shortlist providers who can demonstrate your exact HICAPS/Tyro and GST workflow and commit to a clear month-end timetable.

Use the related pages to explore tax and payroll for dentists, or request help now and outline your software, settlement process and timing pressure.