Orthodontic Practice Bookkeeping & Accounting
Fairlight CPA handles the books, tax, and reporting for orthodontic practices — where a signed case is not the same as earned revenue. We track contract balances, down payments, and monthly patient plans so your P&L reflects treatment actually delivered, not just contracts signed.
✓ Books closed by the 15th ✓ Fixed monthly fees ✓ CPA-led team
The numbers problems orthodontic practices actually have
Contract revenue isn't cash revenue
A $6,000 case collected over 24 months makes cash-basis books lurch and accrual books complicated. Most ortho P&Ls confuse signings, collections, and earned treatment.
Patient-plan receivables drift
Hundreds of small monthly autopays fail, restart, and refund. Without dedicated reconciliation, the contracts-receivable number on your books stops matching reality.
Aligner and lab costs land off-cycle
Aligner fabrication bills arrive on their own schedule, not the patient's. Case-level margin needs those costs matched to the contracts they belong to.
Transfers and treatment changes create credits
Patients move, treatment plans change, contracts get adjusted — every one leaves a credit or balance your books have to resolve, not bury.
What Fairlight takes off your plate
The core engagement is the same discipline we run for every client — monthly close by the 15th, payroll, tax, and CFO-level reporting — built around how orthodontic practices actually make and spend money.
- Contract and patient-plan tracking: down payments, monthly plans, and contract balances reconciled to the bank
- Aligner and lab cost matching so case margin is real, not averaged
- Monthly close by the 15th with signings, collections, and earned-revenue views side by side
- Payroll including clinical staff and any associate arrangements
- Business and personal tax prep, quarterly estimates, and CFO-level reporting for expansion decisions
The three numbers we keep in front of you
No fabricated benchmarks — your own numbers, measured the same way every month, so trends are real and decisions have a floor under them.
Contracts signed vs. collected
new case starts against actual cash collected, so growth and cash stop being confused
Contract receivable balance
what patients still owe on active treatment — tracked, aged, and reconciled
Cost per case started
lab, aligner, and clinical cost against case starts, by month
Revenue cycle & tax notes
Revenue & reconciliation
Ortho cash comes in as down payments plus long autopay tails. We reconcile the plan ledger to the bank monthly, so failed payments and refunds surface immediately instead of at year-end.
Tax & entity
Cash-basis taxation with multi-year contracts creates timing leverage — when you recognize, when you buy equipment, and how you pay yourself all interact; we plan it before year-end.
Simple, published pricing
Bookkeeping from $310/mo · All-In-One (books + tax + advisory) from $800/mo. Every fee is quoted and fixed in writing before any work begins.
Orthodontics accounting FAQs
Our practice management system tracks contracts — why do the books matter?
The PMS knows what patients owe; the books know what actually cleared the bank and what it cost to deliver. We tie the two together monthly, which is where failed autopays, unapplied credits, and margin problems get caught.
Can you show earned revenue, not just collections?
Yes — alongside the cash view, we can maintain an earned-treatment view so you can see whether this month's work covered this month's cost, independent of when contracts were signed.
What does it cost?
Bookkeeping from $310/month; the All-In-One plan (books + tax + advisory) from $800/month. Exact fee fixed in writing after a short call.
Related healthcare specialties
Get the financial side handled
A free 15-minute call — bring your current setup, leave knowing exactly what clean, specialty-aware books look like for orthodontic practices.
The content on this page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional tax advice. Accounting and tax considerations for healthcare practices depend on individual facts and circumstances and are subject to change. See our full legal disclaimer.