Protecting Your Dental Practice from Embezzlement
Most dentists never expect to deal with embezzlement. It feels like a problem that happens somewhere else, in someone else’s practice. Then the numbers start to feel off. The bank account doesn’t match the software. Cash flow feels tighter than it should. And there’s that little internal voice saying, “Something isn’t adding up.”
Let me be clear right from the start.
I’m not an attorney. I’m a dental coach and business strategist. My work takes me into private practices across the country, helping doctors grow, scale, and protect the business they’ve worked so hard to build. And over the years, I’ve seen my fair share of embezzlement cases. I’ve seen how they happen, how they get discovered, and how painful they are for practice owners.
But the first lessons I learned about theft had nothing to do with crowns or composites.
My first lessons in theft came from beer, not crowns.
I owned a college bar in my early twenties.
If you want a fast education in human nature, run a bar.
- Free drinks for friends
- Tabs that mysteriously vanish
- Heavy pours
- Cash that never finds its way to the drawer
If you don’t build solid systems, the money walks out the door. Fast.
That experience shaped how I look at dental practices today. The pattern is always the same:
Good people thrive inside structure.
Bad behavior thrives in the cracks.
Below is the framework I teach my clients to protect their practice and strengthen their systems.
1. Build a clean and consistent end of day
Your first line of defense is your end-of-day system.
Every day, without exception, your team should be:
- Walking out every patient
- Posting correct codes under the correct provider
- Completing all clinical notes
- Generating and sending claims
- Running and saving the core daily reports
If your end of day changes based on who is working or how busy things were, you don’t have a system. You have a routine that is easy to work around.
Consistency creates accountability.
2. Review adjustments every single day (at least weekly)
If I could get every doctor in the country to adopt one habit, it would be this one:
Look at your adjustment report at the end of each day.
Most embezzlement hides in adjustments because they can be disguised as normal corrections — a void here, a discount there, a “patient misunderstanding” that results in a write-off.
When doctors begin reviewing adjustments daily, the practice gets cleaner almost instantly.
- Patterns show up
- Discounts make more sense
- Questionable write-offs disappear
This is a five-minute habit that protects five figures of revenue.
3. Separate financial duties
One of the simplest and most effective protections:
No single team member should control the entire financial flow.
- The person posting charges shouldn’t collect payments
- The person collecting payments shouldn’t make deposits
- The person making deposits shouldn’t reconcile the bank account
This isn’t about distrust.
This is how every real business operates.
4. Match your monthly KPIs to your bank account
Your practice management software and your bank statement must tell the same story — and they need to match exactly, not “pretty close.”
Every month, confirm that:
- Collections match deposits
- Adjustments make sense
- Refunds are documented
- Third-party financing matches incoming funds
If software says you collected 120,000 but the bank shows 113,000, something is off.
It might be timing.
It might be process.
Or it might be something you need to address right away.
Mismatches are signals. Listen to them.
5. Use the audit trail
Your practice management system has an audit log that records:
- Deleted payments
- Voids
- Fee changes
- Backdated entries
- Provider changes
It’s there for your protection, and most practices ignore it.
Check it weekly. You’re not looking to catch anyone — you’re leading your business with clarity.
6. Pay attention to behavior, not just numbers
Numbers tell you when something has already happened.
Behavior tells you when something could happen.
Watch for:
- Someone who won’t take vacation
- Someone who insists only they can handle money
- Someone who reacts emotionally to financial questions
- Someone who resists cross-training
These don’t prove wrongdoing, but they’re patterns leaders should not ignore.
7. Build your Power Team so you can stop doing QuickBooks at night
You didn’t go to dental school to become a bookkeeper.
You stepped into coaching to become a leader and CEO.
Your Power Team should include:
- A dental-focused CPA
- A dependable bookkeeper
- A financial advisor who supports your long-term growth
When you stop trying to “do it all,” your numbers get cleaner, mistakes are caught earlier, and your time returns to leadership.
This shift — from “the bookkeeper” to “the CEO” — is one of the most powerful upgrades a dentist can make.
8. Build a culture where transparency feels normal
Some doctors hesitate to tighten systems because they fear their team will feel watched. In reality, the opposite happens.
A transparent, well-run financial system doesn’t feel like distrust.
It feels like professionalism.
Good team members like structure.
They like clarity.
They like knowing expectations.
Strong systems protect your honest team just as much as they protect your revenue.
A final thought
If something in your gut feels off, trust that feeling.
You’re not being paranoid — you’re stepping into your role as CEO.
At Fortune Management, we help dentists tighten systems, strengthen leadership, and build practices where financial clarity is the norm. And when something does point to a deeper issue, we connect doctors with trusted dental attorneys, CPAs, and forensic experts who can help quietly and professionally.
The goal is simple:
A strong practice.
A strong team.
A strong future.
If you want help building that, that’s the work we do every day.