Accrual Accounting

Most small dental offices use cash basis Accounting rather than accrual basis accounting. This page is an attempt to discuss how to use Open Dental in an accrual basis accounting scenario.

Current Guidelines

  1. In Global Security Settings, use the lock date feature to prevent users from making changes.
  2. After locking, run monthly reports. Never unlock to make historical changes.
  3. PPO write-offs: See Report Setup: Misc Settings, where it discusses the option for Default selected date for PPO write-offs. Set to Insurance Pay Date to avoid changing history.

To keep track of prepayments, see Unearned / Prepayment.

Also see the Unearned Allocation Report.