Veterinary Practices
Your pharmacy might be a profit center or a money pit. Most practice owners can't tell which. We track inventory costs, service margins, and the numbers that matter.
The Industry
Veterinary practices run multiple businesses under one roof. Exams, surgeries, dental procedures, vaccinations, lab work, boarding, and a pharmacy. Each has different costs and different margins. The wellness exam might barely cover the room time and staff wages while the dental cleaning generates real profit. But most practice owners see one big revenue number and have no idea which services are carrying the practice and which are dragging it down.
The inventory side makes it more complicated. You’re sitting on thousands of dollars in medications, vaccines, flea preventatives, and medical supplies. Some gets billed to clients. Some gets used on hospitalized patients and the charge never makes it into the system. Some expires in the back of the refrigerator. The cost of what you bought rarely matches the revenue from what you sold, and the gap is invisible without proper tracking.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Small animal practices, mixed practices, emergency and urgent care clinics, mobile veterinarians, and specialty practices. Any veterinarian in Northern New Mexico managing the financial side of a practice alongside the medical side.
The Friction
The Friction
Practice management software handles the medical records and appointment scheduling. It tracks what you charge clients. But getting that data into QuickBooks in a useful format requires setup and ongoing attention. Payments, refunds, inventory adjustments, and service revenue all need to flow correctly or you end up making decisions based on bad numbers.
What We Handle
We set up your accounting to track revenue by service category. Exams, surgeries, dental, pharmacy, boarding, and lab work each get their own line. This lets you see where the money actually comes from. You stop guessing which services to promote or expand and start making those decisions based on real margin data.
Inventory gets tracked properly. Your cost of goods sold reflects what you actually used and sold, not just what you ordered from the supplier. When a client buys heartworm prevention, the cost of that medication hits the books alongside the revenue. When vaccines expire and get thrown out, that loss gets recorded too. Your pharmacy margin becomes a real number you can monitor and manage.
Service Category Tracking
Service Category Tracking
Revenue broken out by type of service. You see that dental procedures generate strong margins while routine wellness exams barely cover staff time. This drives pricing decisions and helps you understand what actually keeps the practice profitable month to month.
Inventory and Cost of Goods
Inventory and Cost of Goods
Drug and supply costs matched to actual usage and sales. You know your real markup on pharmacy items instead of assuming it matches your price list. When supplier costs increase, you see the margin impact immediately instead of wondering at year end where the profit went.
Common Problems
The biggest issue we see is pharmacy profit leaking away without anyone noticing. A practice orders $8,000 in medications monthly. Some gets billed to clients at full markup. Some gets used on hospitalized patients and the charge never makes it to the invoice. Some expires. Some gets given away as samples to build goodwill. By month end, nobody can tell if the pharmacy made money or lost it. The books just show drug expense on one side and revenue on the other with no clear connection.
Labor costs also drift upward without visibility. Veterinary practices typically run 40% to 50% of revenue on payroll. When you add a tech or give raises, that percentage shifts. Without monthly financial reports showing the ratio, you don’t notice until the year-end tax return reveals thin margins despite the waiting room being full all year.
GRT Confusion
GRT Confusion
New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax applies differently to services and products. Veterinary services get taxed. Medications sold may have different treatment depending on the circumstances. Getting this wrong means overpaying, underpaying, or both in different months. We handle the GRT filings correctly so you stay compliant.
Equipment Depreciation
Equipment Depreciation
X-ray machines, dental units, surgical tables, ultrasound equipment. Veterinary practices carry expensive assets that need proper depreciation schedules. Many practices expense equipment incorrectly or miss opportunities to use Section 179 deductions strategically to reduce their tax liability.
What Changes
You gain visibility into what actually makes money. The numbers reveal that your dental services run healthy margins while routine exams barely break even. You adjust exam pricing or restructure how wellness visits are packaged. You promote the services that generate profit and stop undercharging for procedures that tie up expensive equipment and skilled staff.
The pharmacy becomes manageable instead of mysterious. You know your actual markup on each product category. You catch supplier price increases quickly and adjust your prices accordingly. Expired inventory gets tracked so you can adjust ordering patterns before it becomes a recurring loss. Your largest variable expense turns into a profit center you can actually control.
Confident Pricing
Confident Pricing
Historical data shows what it actually costs to deliver each service. When you need to raise prices, you base the decision on real numbers instead of guesses. When a client hesitates at an estimate, you know whether there’s room to adjust and what it means for your margin.
Clean Books and Compliance
Clean Books and Compliance
Monthly financials that reflect reality. GRT filed correctly and on time. Equipment depreciated properly. When your CPA prepares the tax return, everything is organized and reconciled. You spend less time reconstructing the year from bank statements and more time focusing on patient care and practice growth.
Santa Fe's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a straightforward quote.
