Buying a practice

In any but the tiniest business purchase, dentists need to go through certain procedures to ensure that they are not buying a pig in a poke.  This is the so-called ‘due diligence’ process, under which you get someone, usually a dental accountant, to look critically at the figures and the underlying records to make sure that the business is as profitable as the accounts imply, and the assets are as valuable.

Bear two important things in mind:

The second stage is where you get the lawyers involved.  This is particularly important in cases where you are buying the shares in a company.  Even where you are just buying assets of a practice as a going concern, it is important to ensure that you have got the legal side of things tied down, including warranties and indemnities from the vendor.  This will help you make a claim in the future if anything turns out not to have been what it was cracked up to be.