Veterinary Balance Sheet Template

Next, complete the Inventory Tracker. Do a physical count of pharmaceutical inventory — prescription medications, vaccines and biologicals, parasiticides and preventives, retail OTC products — and enter unit costs and quantities. Most practice management systems can export a product inventory report as a starting point. Track controlled substances separately, both because DEA compliance requires accurate records and because they represent a separate line of internal accountability. Then fill in the rest of the balance sheet: operating cash from your bank statement, client accounts receivable from your practice management system (most small animal practices collect at time of service, but large animal and mixed practices with farm accounts may carry meaningful AR), deferred revenue from any prepaid wellness plans from your plan enrollment records, accounts payable from your distributor statements, and accrued lab fees from your outstanding reference lab invoices.

Two other balance sheet items that veterinary practices commonly mishandle are deferred revenue from wellness plans and accounts payable to diagnostic reference labs. Wellness and preventive care plans — annual packages covering exams, vaccines, heartworm testing, and preventives for a flat monthly fee — are increasingly common across both independent clinics and corporate groups. When a client pays upfront or is billed monthly in advance, the unearned portion is a current liability, not income. A practice with 300 active wellness plan clients paying $50/month is carrying several thousand dollars in deferred revenue at any billing cycle — real obligations that belong on the balance sheet. Similarly, most practices run reference lab work through IDEXX, Antech, or VCA and receive bills on 30-day terms; those outstanding invoices are current liabilities that should appear as accrued diagnostic lab fees rather than being absorbed into a catch-all 'accounts payable' line.