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The Author i

Introduction ii

1 Your vital issue 1

2 Health fund preferred provider … 1

3 Benchmarking 1

4 Size of practice – efficiency 2

5 Hygienists 2

6 Practice managers 3

7 Practice management consultants 3

8 Staff meetings 3

9 Presentation 3

10 Fee setting 4

11 New technology 4

12 Cost control 4

13 Relevance 4

14 Buying a practice 5

15 Looking for a practice to buy 5

16 Tax schemes 5

17 Appearance 6

18 Margin loans 6

19 Group marketing schemes 6

20 Accountants … 6

21 Financial planners … 7

22 Excess rent 7

23 Your home loan 7

24 Avoid bubbles 8

25 Advisers 8

Contents

26 Corporatisation and franchisation 8

27 Management fads 8

28 Control 8

29 Staff job statements 9

30 Buying schemes 9

31 Number of partners/associates 9

32 Complicated business structures 10

33 Practice valuations 10

34 Life insurance 10

35 Superannuation 11

36 Second businesses 12

37 The legal costs of divorce 12

38 Lawyers 12

39 Practice efficiency 13

40 Profit appears at the margin 13

41 Succession planning 13

42 Employment view practice purchase 14

43 Advertising vs marketing 14

44 Handover of practice on purchase 15

45 Goodwill handover 15

46 Double counting of goodwill 15

47 Exclusion zones 16

48 Associateship not partnership 16

49 Change management 17

50 Alternative careers for dentists 18

Contents

cont.,

The AuthorGraham Middleton BA, MBA, FAIM

Graham Middleton has an extensive background inbusiness, line management, human resourcemanagement and finance. For the past seventeen yearshe has worked with many dentists, both specialists andgeneral practitioners, in respect of business strategy,practice valuation and financial strategy. During thisperiod a myriad of situations have presented themselvesresulting in a wealth of practical experience.

He has been actively involved in providing financial andbusiness advice to the dental profession since 1987.He was a founding partner of the Synstrat Group in 1994in which he established a database of dental practiceperformance and an extensive library of practicevaluation data. He is an authority on the valuation ofdental practices in Australia and is the author of “TheSynstrat Guide to Practice Management” which waspublished in 1995. His previous experience in humanresource management, line management and strategyformulation backed up by data on dental practices, hasenabled him to formulate easily understood rules forsuccess as a dentist.

Graham is a partner in Synstrat Accounting Pty Ltd andSynstrat Management Pty Ltd and is a personal financialand business advisor to many successful dentists.

i

50 Rules for Success as a Dentist provides a usefulchecklist to all dentists owning or intending to purchasetheir own practices. A few of the rules will becontroversial, but all of them are based on observationsof actual situations.

Observation of many dental practice outcomes gainedby Synstrat as consultants, practice valuers,accountants or financial advisers, reveal that manydentists are unaware of the true standing of theirpractice, or how they individually measure up on theirparticular age or rung of their financial life cycle ladder.

Often the dentists they meet at conferences or in studygroups convey an overly optimistic view, resulting inmuch misinformation. Many of the dental gurus foundon the lecture circuits sharing their secrets of successin dentistry are in reality more successful in selling theirskills as speakers than they were in practice.

Almost universally, the accounting profession seeks toportray itself as being expert business advisers.

However, the truth is that most dentists use anaccountant who adds up last year’s figures, tells themwhat tax to pay and, having only one or two dentalclients, has no idea of their relative financial standingas dentists or of the key drivers of success in their dentalpractice.

In every profession there is a deep-seated need forgreater knowledge. However, benchmarking serviceswhich are not related to actual accounts, or valuationsdone without direct observation of what a large numberof client dentists bought or sold their practices for, are,at best, inaccurate and at worst seriously misleading.

Naturally, the Synstrat Group hopes that in addition tobeing useful, the fifty rules given in this book willstimulate enquiry for our services.

Introduction

ii

Identification of strategic issues is paramount to financialsuccess. Usually, there is one vital strategic issue whichmust be addressed first to enable you to proceed toothers. Usually, but not always, it lies within your dentalpractice.

Surprisingly, many dentists, particularly those who arestruggling, have utterly failed to identify the vital issueaffecting them or their practice.

Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer wouldn’t let anoutside organisation control their businesses, so whyshould dentists? Preferred providers to health funds areforced to lower their fees by a percentage which roughlyequates to the proportion of health fund subscriptionsthat the funds need to pay their overheads, particularlytheir staff wages. The discount you give to health fundpatients only offsets the fund’s own internal costs.

Be wary of buying a practice which has been a preferredprovider to a health fund. There is a risk that you willhave to rebuild the clientele and the pricing structure ofthe practice. Don’t confuse profit with gross fees.

Most dentists run their practices without anunderstanding of whether they are above, below, or ataverage practice performance standard. They cannotcritically evaluate what practice performance or costsshould be without reference to a comprehensivedatabase of dental practice costs, and nor can theiraccountants. As a result, most dentists conduct theirpractices in the dark.

At Synstrat, we have accumulated dental practiceperformance data over many years directly from thecompleted financials of our dentist clients.

This database can be used to measure (benchmark)your practice performance against similar practices tohighlight the areas of your business needing attention,to critically evaluate the effectiveness of management

11111Your vital issue

22222Health fundpreferredprovider – don’tsign up

33333Benchmarking

1

44444Size ofpractice –efficiency

55555Hygienists

decision making, or to help make decisions of strategicimportance.

Understand your practice performance by having itregularly benchmarked. The only reliable benchmarksare those built up from a database of actual annualaccounts prepared by accountants, which areconstantly updated. Databases based on dentists fillingin questionnaires and mailing them in are fraught withthe problem that busy dentists don’t voluntarily fill informs.

If you feel that your practice is being conducted in thedark and you wish to shine some light on it, pleasediscuss with Synstrat.

Benchmark data shows that small tightly controlledpractices are efficient.

Big practices with many dentists, hygienists/therapistsand excessive nurse reception staff are usuallyinefficient.

Benchmark data that is taken across lots of practicesshows that hygienists don’t add to profits.

The evidence of many dentists indicates that ratherthan hygienists finding patients for dentists, it is dentistswho have to work hard to find patients for theirhygienists.

Yes, there may be exceptions to the overall rule.However, the expectation fuelled some years ago byAmerican guru dentists that hygienists were vital to aprofitable practice is simply not supported by fact inAustralian dentistry.

33333cont.,

2

Most efficient dentists make all the important hire, fire,re-equip and fee setting decisions themselves. In reality,they are the practice manager.

Be very wary about creating an extra management tier.

Many practice management consultants are overrated.Deal with ones that are prepared to be retained monthby month rather than signing up on a year-by-year basisat $30,000 or more. The only valid way to evaluate apractice management consultant is to determine longafter they have left the practice whether the changes inprocedures which they orchestrated are still effectivein profit terms.

Before you contemplate engaging a practicemanagement consultant, ask among other dentists andfind out what their actual experience has been.Generally, ‘in practice consultants’ advise you to put upyour fees, structure fewer longer appointments and domore crown and bridge work.

If you are already doing that or are confident that youare on that path, you probably don’t need the consultant.

The measure of a dentist who is a good practicemanager is that they can run the practice withoutexcessive staff meetings.

A need for frequent staff meetings is often an indicationof poor management, whereas a practice that runssmoothly with few meetings is likely to be well managed.

Your personal service standards are the best form ofadvertising. Dentistry is a professional service whichcannot be mass marketed.

66666Practicemanagers

77777Practicemanagementconsultants

88888Staff meetings

99999Presentation

3

Dentists are price searchers, not price takers. Aneffective practitioner must cover their personalopportunity cost, that is, the package that they wouldbe paid if they did the same amount of work forsomebody else, plus the return on investment in theirpractice, plus an amount to cover the need forequipment replacement and premises refurbishment.

It doesn’t pay to be the first to jump into expensive newtechnology. About ten years ago intra-oral camerasplummeted in value. Many dentists purchased airabrasion equipment which they quickly shelved. Somedentists who have purchased Cerec machines havefound them to be non-cost effective for their mode ofpractice, and have offered them for resale on thesecondhand market.

Wait and see how other dentists take to new technology.There are no rewards for being first. Those who buyearly often regret their decision.

Keep your critical costs under control. You can onlyidentify and measure critical costs by having access toan effective practice benchmarking system.

Staffing costs generally blow out half an hour at a timeas practice administration staff persuade the proprietorthat they need more time to finish off. Be wary of coststhat blow out above benchmark in this area. Workseems to expand to fill in the available number of hours.Efficient practices operate with minimum staffing, wherestaff are busy at all times.

Ensure that the financial advice you receive is relevantto your profession.

1010101010Fee setting

1111111111Newtechnology

1212121212Cost control

1313131313Relevance

4

If you bought a car yard from the best car salesman intown, you couldn’t replicate his profit. If you buy a dentalpractice from a smooth selling high fee chargingindividual who does lots of expensive crown and bridgework, in all probability you won’t be able to retain thepatients, or charge the same level of fees.

If unsure of the value, obtain a proper financial valuation/appraisal. It is important to note that many accountantsmay not have many other dental clients and thereforelack a basis on which to give accurate advice as tosuitability of a particular practice for purchase. Practicebrokers can be in conflict between encouraging vendorsto list the practice for sale based on an optimistic priceappraisal, then trying to talk up the prospective buyer.

Remember, that like all other businesses, most of thebest dental practices are sold privately without the aidof brokers. Our observation is that very few of our clientsbought their practice through brokers.

Avoid ‘investment’ in tax driven products such as films,eucalypts, tropical timber, horticulture, viticulture andolive grove trusts. These pay advisers excessivecommissions to achieve sales. In an overwhelmingnumber of cases, the outcomes have been extremelydisappointing. Don’t deal with accounting groups thatpush these products.

Their primary motivation is a short-term commissionrather than giving you genuine long-term advice.

Give priority to developing your practice, owning yourpremises, paying off your home and funding yoursuperannuation. Widespread observation indicates thatdentists who concentrate on the fundamentals, windup in a much stronger position than those who haveparticipated in any of the above tax-driven products.We are yet to meet a dentist who invested in one of thetax-diven products listed above, who didn’t later regrettheir decision.

1515151515Looking for apractice to buy

1414141414Buying apractice

1616161616Tax schemes

5

Keep the appearance of your premises up to a goodstandard.

Margin lending schemes pushed heavily by manyfinancial advisers are inefficient because:

a. The interest rate is usually a bit on the high side.

b. The restriction imposed by margin lenders onwhere you can invest the money means thatinvestment returns will usually be below average.

c. There are always better financial options availableto dentists.

Good practice presentation and quality of service attractreferrals. Group marketing schemes such as 1300number clubs are not effective marketing vehicles forprofessional services.

Keep your practice unique.

Evaluate whether your accountant and financial advisertruly understand your profession.

Do they have their own dental practice benchmarkdatabase?

Do they evaluate the importance of reinvesting in yourpractice?

Do they compare your practice profitability againstappropriate best practice and average practiceoutcomes?

Do they understand what constitutes a correct cost basefor a dental practice?

1717171717Appearance

1818181818Margin loans

1919191919Groupmarketingschemes

2020202020Accountants –tests ofeffectiveness

6

The test of a good financial planner is whether theycan identify and deal with the opportunities inside yourdental practice.

If they can’t evaluate your financials to that extent, noridentify the return on capital that you should be gettingin your dental practice, nor explain the economics ofthe dental profession with reference to practice,premises, fees, equipment and reinvestment needs,then you’ve got the wrong person.

Alternatively, do they provide you with a computer drivengeneric report, which, stripped to its bare essentialstells you to put your superannuation into an inefficientmaster trust and buy lots of life insurance?

Most of Australia’s ‘Financial Planners’ have beencaptured by the ten major financial institutions. Theirtraining template teaches them to do plans for clientsin employment rather than for those who own their ownbusinesses or practices. Professional practiceproprietors overwhelmingly require advice on strategicissues.

If you buy a practice in a location with excess rent, thenyour profit will be permanently diminished by this fixedcost. The chances are that you may not be able to onsellthe practice.

The best practices are not in the most exclusivesuburbs.

Your long-term home is a capital gains tax exempt asset.However, the interest on your home loan is not taxdeductible. Therefore, repaying a home loan at a fasterrate than required by the bank’s loan conditions is asound strategy.

However, as a general principle, a loan taken out topurchase a practice is an interest tax deductiblebusiness loan and can be held long term.

2121212121Financialplanners – testofeffectiveness

2222222222Excess rent

2323232323Your home loan

7

The 1960s Poseidon boom in speculative mining stockscollapsed, the 1980s boom in commercial propertycollapsed, the millennium boom saw dot com stockscollapse, and the recent boom in purchasing heavilygeared residential rental property is headed towardcollapse as rents fall and vacant tenancies rise.

Those who invest heavily in these types of booms atthe top of the market can wipe out capital acquiredpatiently over many years.

Choose advisers who promote common sense, whoare experienced, and who base their advice on soundinformation. Good financial advice starts inside yourpractice financials and works outwards.

Dentistry is one of the last great cottage industries. Thenature of its services does not lend it to being swallowedup by a large health services company listed on thestock market; nor does it lend itself to franchisation.

There are sound economic reasons why corporatisationand franchisation don’t work in Australian dentistry.

There haven’t been many genuine new managementtheories developed since the days of Henry Ford.

What there have been are numerous new names forold theories.

Despite what the management text books on theshelves of universities offering MBA courses say, theuniversal truth is that successful small businesses arerun by control freaks.

Dental practice is a small business.

2424242424Avoid bubbles

2525252525Advisers

2626262626Corporatisationandfranchisation

2727272727Managementfads

2828282828Control

8

Many large well managed companies ban them. Anextensive duty list is more likely to generate negativeoutcomes, as in the thought;

‘Why am I doing this? It’s not on my duty list ….’

The most efficient practices have relatively few staff andthey do everything without duty lists. Avoid HRconsultants promising to write up your staff jobdescriptions. You’re better off saving the fee.

One indicator of staff inefficiency is the proportion ofgross fees directed towards lay staff support in the formsof nursing and reception duties.

Buying schemes have a long history of start up andfailure in Australia, for example, the multitude of farmorganisation cooperatives which have come and gone.Invariably, buying cooperatives start out with laudableaims, but administrative costs eat into bulk discountsand they then find it difficult to offer a sustainable netbenefit. Economic theory casts doubt on theirsurvivability.

The risk of partnership difficulties expands exponentially.Two dentists have one relationship, three dentists havethree relationships, four dentists have six relationships,five dentists have ten relationships and six dentists havefifteen relationships. The only way to overcome the riskof disharmony between associates in a large complexpractice is to introduce another tier of management,which requires all associated to subordinate themselvesto centralised direction. This is expensive and inefficient.

Most dentists would be advised not to buy equity in apractice with more than three associates, and probablywith no more than two.

Dental structure should not be equated with partnershipstructures in large legal or accounting firms. In the lattercase, there is invariably a managing partner or a small

2929292929Staff jobstatements

3030303030Buyingschemes

3131313131Number ofpartners/associateships

9

group of two or three ‘super partners’. Other partnersshare in profit, but are confined by organisationalconstraints to a specific area of responsibility orspecialisation.

If there are several associates in a practice, and thepractice in turn has a complicated managementstructure involving a practice manager and separateservice trust, and if the premises are owned on severalstrata titles with different rental lease renewal dates,then you would be ill advised to buy in. Insist onsimplified structures.

If the proprietors cannot produce them, defer yourdecision. If you feel you must buy in, then it is essentialthat you get expert advice relating to dental practicemanagement prior to buying in and negotiate changesin the buy in contract. Once you become an associate,it often becomes impossible to get things changed.

A practice in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne or theHills District of Sydney will be more sought after thanone on the edge of a growth corridor. Practices inmedium sized towns will on average be more profitablethan practices in capital cities.

The market for speciality type practices may be quitelimited, while a practice paying ‘excessive’ rentals willbe less profitable than one with moderate rent, and apractice in a remote rural centre may be difficult to sellat even moderate prices.

There can be no generalised rule of thumb. Expertadvice is required.

You insure to cover your family’s essential needs ratherthan to make a surviving spouse significantly better off.

Life insurance is important protection, but it is also anexpense, and as with all items you pay for, you ration

3232323232Complicatedbusinessstructures –don’t buy

3333333333Practicevaluations

3434343434Life insurance

3131313131cont.,

10

your need according to financial resources and yourother priorities.

Financial planners employed by bank and lifeinsurance groups are part of such an organisation’s‘product distribution network’, that is, its salesforce. Their reports are usually biased towards overinsurance – often heavily so.

As your assets increase, the amount of lifeinsurance you pay for can be reduced.

Ultimately, your aim should be to become sufficientlywell off to afford to dispense with life insurance.

a. Managed FundsManaged funds are usually relatively inefficient, buthave a limited utility during a period where you haveinsufficient superannuation assets to warrant havingyour own fund. Some managed funds, includingindustry funds are a lot more expensive than theyfirst appear.

b. Personal Superannuation FundsThese are sometimes referred to as DIY (Do ItYourself) or SMSF (Self Managed SuperannuationFunds). Changes to financial service regulations,licensing and the restrictions placed on accountantsauditing their own clients’ funds, mean that manyaccounting practices can no longer meet therequirements to advise their clients.

Administration and advice to trustees of personalsuperannuation funds has become a specialisedactivity.

3434343434cont.,

3535353535Superannuation

11

When a dentist becomes an owner of a restaurant, winecellar, vineyard or wholesale distribution channel as wellas being a dentist, either their practice suffers, or theother business reflects the fact that they are not therefor a significant portion of the time – or both businessessuffer. In the world of small business, the constantattention of a proprietor is vital.

Small businesses which are left in the hands of a‘manager’ while the proprietor does other thingsinvariably languish. Sometimes a second businessturns into a financial disaster dragging down the primarybusiness or practice.

Arguing about property settlements is a far moreexpensive process than most people believe is possible.It usually costs much more than the lawyer’s costestimated at the beginning.

Refer to ‘Dental Divorce Australian Style’ atwww.synstrat.com.au

If you are confronted with a partnership or anassociateship dispute, introducing a lawyer can be likethrowing petrol on a fire. Once both parties have lawyersrepresenting them, they usually find that they have lostcontrol of the negotiations which take on a life of theirown.

The function of a lawyer is to advise on legal points,but many lawyers assume that their status of being alawyer empowers them to negotiate, even when theyare poor negotiators.

It is critical that you examine other courses of actionbefore getting lawyers involved, and that youunderstand quite clearly whether you are giving thelawyer instructions simply to advise you or to carry outa negotiation.

3636363636Secondbusinesses

3737373737The legal costsof divorce

3838383838Lawyers

12

A critical aspect of dentistry is understanding theimportance of practice efficiency.

If by way of example a dentist has $400,000 of fees,then making that practice 3 percent more efficientincreases profit by $12,000.

$12,000 per annum of additional profit can representone of the following alternatives:

$6,180 more after tax income at the highestmarginal tax rate (of 48.5 percent includingMedicare), or

A greater amount of after tax income if, throughstructuring, it can be shared with a family memberhaving a lower tax rate, or

Interest on a business tax deductible loan ofbetween $150,000 and $200,000 (at an interestrate of 6 to 8 percent per annum), or

$10,200 of superannuation after payingcontribution tax of 15 percent.

The effects are substantial if extended over a long periodof time.

If fees are increased by 5 percent and costs are keptconstant, then that 5 percent of marginal income allfalls to the bottom line as profit.

Increased or decreased profit always occurs at themargin.

The words ‘succession planning’ have become a buzzphrase, which means many different things to manydifferent people. The issue is greatly simplified where:

Dentists have run their practice efficiently andprofitably.

3939393939Practiceefficiency

4040404040Profit appearsat the margin

4141414141Successionplanning

13

Tax planning is being done carefully.

Silly investments have been avoided (see16 – Tax Schemes, p.5).

Investment bubbles have been avoided (seeavoiding bubbles).

Dentists have a good idea as to the value andsaleability of their practice and conduct itaccordingly.

Broadly, the choice is whether to sell a practice early,sacrificing a little income and lots of flexibility, includingflexibility over tax planning, or to hang on to the practiceuntil the last moment: possibly risking that its fees arein decline and limiting its saleability.

More often than not, when dentists are employed onthe basis of,

‘You can work for me now and buy into the practiceat a later date…’

the relationship doesn’t endure, or the employed dentistdecides to purchase a practice elsewhere.

Dentists who employ this strategy are advised that thereis a high probability of being disappointed.

It is a mistake to confuse advertising with marketing.Professional services are far more challenging tomarket than are non-professional products andservices. Most money spent on advertising dentalpractices is wasted. Indeed, some of it is counter to agood marketing strategy.

The most successful marketing strategies are thosebuilt upon the quality of personal referral.

4242424242Employmentview practicepurchase

4343434343Advertising vsmarketing

4141414141cont.,

14

When you purchase a practice, you normally onlypurchase the proprietorship. Proprietorship is definedas being practice goodwill plus equipment. Theequipment in turn refers to all of the plant and equipmentincluding the furniture necessary to the operation of thepractice.

A buyer will be advised against taking over an existingcompany or trust unless they are only purchasing partof an existing practice, or part of a service entity in anassociateship. Careful due diligence is required to avoidtaking on unknown liabilities.

Goodwill is the economic value of a transferable asset.Unless goodwill is transferable, it can’t have a value.Often, value is enhanced where an existing proprietorof high repute assists with transfer of patients.

It is not possible to place a simple percentage value onpatient goodwill. Some brokers, some accountants andsome divorce lawyers wrongly think that goodwill is acommodity that can be bottled and put on a shelf with avalue label attached. That isn’t true. The practicereputation, name, logo, telephone number, patient list,location, parking, accessibility, profitability andtransferability all contribute to goodwill.

Goodwill rests with each associate in a practice. Aservice trust does not own goodwill, but will own itemsof furniture and equipment. In particular instances, wehave noted attempts to try and extract a double goodwillpayment. This was inappropriate.

Since any profit in a service entity only occurs on thebasis of a mutually agreed markup of services, it isapparent that the profit arises from the treatment ofpatients within dentists’ surgeries. Conventionally, whenselling an associateship, the proprietorship is valued.The net assets of the service entity are deducted fromproprietorship and transferred at net asset value. The

4444444444Handover ofpractice onpurchase

4545454545Goodwillhandover

4646464646Doublecounting ofgoodwill

15

remainder of the proprietorship consists of personallyowned dental equipment and goodwill. These are thenfurther treated in accordance with the conventions ofproprietorship when transferring ownership in anassociateship.

Normally a practice sale precludes the outgoingproprietor from practicing within a stated radius for aspecified time as well as from advertising services toformer patients.

Dentist goodwill can be accurately described as ‘DogGoodwill’ as a patient’s loyalty to a dentist is oftenlikened to a faithful dog following its master.

Regrettably, there are occasional instances of dentistswho, having sold their practice, violate professionalethics and attempt to recapture their former patients.

Be careful if buying a practice which has operated withina company structure, that the exclusion arrangementsare guaranteed not only by the company but by theproprietor of that company. Regrettably quite a fewsolicitors miss out on vital commercial issues whenadvising on contracts.

Unfortunately, we are aware of instances of dentistswho have deliberately set out to defraud the purchaser.In certain cases, subsequent events have indicated thatthe vendor had a premeditated plan to recapture andmove their patients to another location.

For structural reasons, dentists practice inassociateships, whereas some other professions, suchas the veterinary profession, practice in partnership. Inthis context, partnership can also mean an equalshareholding in a company.

When entering an associateship, each dentist ownstheir own personal goodwill, and conducts their ownpractice. It is normal to share common administrative

4747474747Exclusionzones

4646464646cont.,

4848484848Associateshipnot partnership

16

services, provided to each associate via a ‘non-profitpartnership’ or in some instances via a service trust.

It is important to document the fact that the non-profitpartnership or service trust has no claim on respectiveassociates’ goodwill, that is, a partnership does notextend into the ownership of patient fees.

We have observed a rare instance of an unscrupulousdentist with limited fees, attempting to establish legalownership over an associate’s practice on the basisthat they had signed a partnership form when openinga bank account for their service entity.

Recognising and accepting the need for change is oneof the most substantial challenges in dental practice.Often, this doesn’t occur until there is a serious loss ofprofitability or a serious decline in patient referrals.

Frequently, the proprietor concerned is the last one tonotice that their practice is crying out for change. Loyalstaff may not broach the subject, and while long-termpatients may still attend the practice, they may havestopped recommending it to their friends.

Nearly all of us are resistant to change. The first step inconfronting the need to change is to get authoritativeadvice as to where both you and your practice are at.This involves two assessments:

1. An assessment of your net financial assets andliabilities set against a template as to where otherdentists of approximately the same age and yearsof practice ownership stand, and

2. The benchmarking of your practice.

Many dentists have successfully dragged themselvesand their practice out of a hole. However, the biggeststep was the first one of seeking advice as to whetherthey had a problem.

4949494949Changemanagement

4848484848cont.,

17

Overwhelmingly, graduate entry into large corporatesacross all industries occurs in the early to mid-20s agegroup. Subsequent recruitment into managementgrades is on the basis of attracting those with industryspecific skills for middle and senior managementpositions.

The best time to switch out of dentistry is within a yearor two of graduation. For dentists beyond this age group,it is essential that they maximise their dental career, asalternate career paths close down rapidly.

5050505050Alternativecareers fordentists

Do you need advice?

If you have an issue concerning any of the mattersraised in this list of rules, we invite you to contact theSynstrat Group.

18

The Synstrat GroupThe Synstrat Group is Australia’s foremost groupof Business and Financial Advisers, Valuers andAccountants specialising in assistance toveterinary, dental, medical and specialistpractices.

IndependenceThe companies in the Synstrat Group are ownedand operated by their directors. We have nocontractual obligations to recommend theservices of any bank, merchant bank, or lifeinsurance company.

www.synstrat.com.auoffice@synstrat.com.au

PO Box 14, Doncaster 3108660 Doncaster Road, Doncaster 3108Phone +61 3 9843 7777 Fax +61 3 9843 7799

Synstrat Accounting Pty LtdABN 44 525 452 676ACN 053 416 149

Synstrat Management Pty LtdABN 57 006 295 325ACN 006 295 325

Australian Financial ServicesLicence No: 227169