Why Successful Doctors Shouldn’t Be Doing Their Own Books

If you’re a physician running your own practice, chances are you didn’t go to medical school to become a bookkeeper.

Yet, your evenings and weekends are spent sorting through credit card statements, downloading payroll reports, and trying to decode what your accounting software actually means. You’re not alone. Many doctors start out doing their own books, often with the best intentions: to save money, stay hands-on, or just because they don’t know what else to do.

If your practice is growing, and you’re still deep in the numbers yourself, it’s worth asking: Is this really the best use of your time?

Hint: the answer is (almost always) no. Here’s why.

You’re the Revenue Generator, Not the Record Keeper

Your practice doesn’t run without you. When you’re diagnosing, treating, or building relationships with patients, you’re driving the business forward. When you’re reconciling transactions or Googling “how to categorize lab supplies,” you’re treading water.

This is especially true for high-performing practices. Every hour you spend managing your books is an hour you're not using your medical training, building your team, or thinking about how to scale.

There’s a real opportunity cost to DIY bookkeeping, one that only grows with your success.

Medical Bookkeeping Is Messy and Specific

Healthcare practices have unique accounting needs. You’re juggling multiple revenue streams like insurance reimbursements, patient payments, lab billing, and expenses that span equipment leases, malpractice insurance, payroll, and continuing education.

On top of that, most physicians run some expenses through their business for tax optimization (think: your vehicle, part of your home internet, continuing educational trips). That’s smart, but it gets complicated fast.

We’ve seen more than one doctor miss out on thousands in deductions, or worse, misclassify expenses that triggered IRS scrutiny, simply because they were trying to wing it on their own.

Your Financials Aren’t Just for Tax Time

We say this all the time, because it’s true: financials aren’t just for your CPA.

Accurate, up-to-date books give you the information you need to make real-time business decisions:

• Can you afford to hire another assistant?

• Is your rent eating too much of your revenue?

• Are your patient acquisition costs rising?

If you're only looking at your books once a year, or they’re always several months behind, you're making big decisions with a blindfold on.

Fraud Happens in Healthcare More Than You Think

The hard truth is that small practices are especially vulnerable to internal fraud. Office managers sometimes have control over billing, payroll, and vendor payments, with little oversight. We've seen embezzlement cases that went unnoticed for months because the doctor wasn’t looking at financials regularly or didn’t know what to look for.

Having a trained set of eyes reviewing your books each month is an added layer of protection. Not just to catch fraud, but to prevent it in the first place.

Your CPA Can’t Fix a Year’s Worth of Chaos

A lot of doctors assume their CPA will clean up their books at tax time, and some do. However, that service is typically bare-bones and focused on getting you compliant, not giving you insights. Plus, it’s expensive. What could’ve been flagged in March now takes hours of backtracking in January, with a higher bill to show for it.

Having monthly reconciled books gives your CPA everything they need, accurately, cleanly, and on time. It saves you money and stress.

You Deserve Financial Clarity, Not Financial Stress

You spend your days helping people live healthier, more informed lives. You deserve the same clarity when it comes to your own finances.

That means knowing where your money is going.
That means understanding what you can afford.
That means filing on time, without extensions and last-minute chaos.

This isn’t about being “bad with money.” It’s about not being in your zone of genius, and that’s okay. You’re not supposed to be the bookkeeper. You’re the business owner. The doctor. The expert in your field.

Let your books be handled with the same level of care and expertise you bring to your patients.