by Nathan Hayes | Jul 26, 2025 | 7 Key Expense Areas, Cost of Goods Sold/Inventory
When categorizing expenses, there are always some “gray areas,” like whether a patient communication platform counts as a marketing cost or a software/technology expense. (We classify it as marketing, but that’s just our choice.) Even internally, we debate how to...
by Nathan Hayes | Jun 14, 2025 | 7 Key Expense Areas, Cost of Goods Sold/Inventory, Financial Operations, Goal Setting, Internal Audit, Practice Management
“If you think about it, benchmarks are just a way to make you feel bad about your own practice.” Gary Gerber, OD Recently, I had a conversation with a Books & Benchmarks client who was concerned that his Cost of Goods Sold had recently climbed above...
by Nathan Hayes | Apr 20, 2024 | 7 Key Expense Areas, Cost of Goods Sold/Inventory
The wholesale cost of the products your practice sells—glasses, contacts, and other accessories—is a frequently discussed topic in optometry. Like most expenses, lower is better. But what’s realistic? I have heard more than one expert mention a cap of 25% of...
by Nathan Hayes | Mar 9, 2024 | 7 Key Expense Areas, Cost of Goods Sold/Inventory
Last week, I shared how a practice asked us to split their Maui Jim bill between plano and Rx work so they could more accurately measure and control their frame spending. Using that as a jumping-off point, I noted that while controlling costs is an important part of...
