Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 3

“If you aren’t looking at your financial statements regularly, you won’t know until the end of the year if you are solvent,” said Dr. Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong made a presentation about the evolving economic impact of the pandemic on dentistry. Many practices had seen a drop in revenue in 2020, which was more striking for practices with high overhead. “Some practices have overheads of 75%,” he said. “For a practice like that, a 20% drop in revenue means an 80% drop in income for that practice owner.” In a breakout room to do an exercise, a small group of dentists discussed how much of their own financials they did in their practices. Several used bookkeepers and accountants and only checked in occasionally, but a few participated actively in their own accounting. New Program for Dentists at the Schulich School of Business Starting in May 2021, the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto will offer a new online program called the Schulich Mini-MBA: Dentist Business Leadership Program . CDA talked to Dr. Michael Glogauer about the impetus for the new program. “At dental school, we spend thousands of hours on the craft of dentistry and the work of being a health care professional, but we get very little information on how to run a small business,” says Dr. Glogauer, a dental entrepreneur, clinician and scientist, who will teach at the Mini-MBA at Schulich. “In order to provide optimal cutting-edge, state- of-the-art care to our patients, we need to be able to run our small businesses effectively and profitably. There is a significant need for business education among dentists.” Dr. Glogauer says that the Schulich program includes coaching to help students conceptualize, plan and implement solutions to their business problems in their own practices. “What do you want to learn? What do you want to integrate into your practices? We’re focused on translating the learning from the program and making it directly applicable to the day-to-day of a dentist’s business,” he says. Hear more fromDr. Glogauer on the Schulich Mini‑MBA at: vimeo.com/526282661 For more details, visit: bit.ly/3tYIgI8 Day One I n late November, I sat in on some classes offered at the UBC Sauder School of Business, via Zoom, to learn about dental practice management. The 2020 cohort of students had already attended most days of their instruction, so I was meeting them as they finished sharpening their business acumen. The first professor of the day, Scott Sinclair, stood in front of an electronic whiteboard on an otherwise empty stage in Vancouver, while the students, all practising dentists, tuned in from their homes or offices. Sinclair specializes in accounting and he explained how to read financial statements and stressed the importance of dentists being able to understand income statements, balance sheets and cash flow. “People seem to avoid reading them,” he says. “But you need to be able to analyze them and find potential problems.” “If you aren’t looking at your financial statements regularly, you won’t know until the end of the year if you are solvent.” S upporting Y our P ractice 37 Issue 3 | 2021 |