An affordable bookkeeping service for psychology practices in Melbourne
Psychology practices billing across Medicare Better Access, NDIS, employee assistance programs and private health are managing income streams that arrive through four completely different systems on four completely different timelines
Bookkeeping for chiropractic practices
Do any of these financial scenarios sound familiar as a psychologist?
- Medicare Better Access MBS payments are arriving from the Commonwealth on a delay and you are not certain the income in your accounts reflects when sessions actually occurred.
- NDIS clients are being billed through a portal that is completely separate from your accounting software and you have no clear picture of what is outstanding versus what has been paid.
- EAP referrals from corporate providers are invoiced to organisations rather than individuals and the billing cycle is completely different from your standard clinical billing but nothing in the accounts separates them
- Private health fund rebates through HICAPS for psychology sessions are not reconciling against the billing records and the discrepancy has never been investigated.
- You have an associate psychologist on a service agreement and you have never had anyone check whether the arrangement creates an employment obligation for super and PAYG.
- You are paying $15,000 or more per year for bookkeeping that consists largely of basic data entry and your accounting software has features you have never used
If any of these sound like your practice, you are not alone and there is a straightforward fix.
A bookkeeper in Melbourne for psychology practices
A psychology practice billing through Medicare Better Access, NDIS, employee assistance programs and private health is managing income complexity that most general bookkeepers encounter without the specific knowledge to handle correctly.
- Medicare Better Access payments from the Commonwealth arrive after the MBS claim is processed, which means income in the accounts must be recognised when the session was delivered and the claim lodged, not when the Commonwealth deposited the payment.
- NDIS income must be recorded with the correct treatment for each participant’s plan management type, with different billing processes, different approval requirements and different payment timelines for agency-managed, plan-managed and self-managed participants.
- EAP income is generated by a referral from a corporate provider, invoiced to an organisation rather than an individual patient, and collected on a billing cycle determined by the EAP provider’s payment terms rather than by the session date.
When all of this income is recorded from bank deposits without systematic reconciliation against the billing system and the funding portals, the revenue figure in the practice accounts is a function of when five different payers chose to process their payments rather than of when the clinical work was actually done.
A psychology practice that saw forty clients in a week may record very little income in the bank that week and receive a cluster of payments the following week when Medicare, the NDIA, and two EAP providers all process simultaneously.
A profit and loss statement built on deposit-based income recognition cannot tell the practice owner what the practice is actually generating clinically.
In one of Matthew’s case studies, a health practice was paying $20,000 per year for basic data entry only. The accounting software had never been properly configured, automation features were unused, and the practice was paying a premium fee for a manually operated system that a correctly configured platform would have managed automatically.
After Matthew restructured the arrangement, the practice saved $15,000 per year while receiving more thorough bookkeeping than it had before. The pattern of paying above market rates for below market service quality is one of the most consistent findings in health practice bookkeeping reviews.
Read the full case study.
What a bookkeeper can manage for a psychology practice in Melbourne
A psychology practice has financial flows that are different to many other business types, so managing them correctly requires understanding and needs to cover these activities;
Medicare Better Access income reconciliation.
MBS payments are reconciled against billing records with income recognised when sessions are delivered and claims lodged rather than when the Commonwealth deposits the payment. Outstanding claims are tracked through the accounts receivable position.
NDIS income recording across plan management types.
Agency-managed participants are billed through the NDIS portal and income is recognised on claim approval. Plan-managed participants are invoiced to the plan manager and income is recognised on the invoice. Self-managed participants are invoiced directly. The accounting file is reconciled against portal claims and payment receipts for every participant.
EAP income recording.
EAP referral income is recorded against the corporate provider as the debtor, reconciled against the EAP referral schedule, and income is recognised as sessions are delivered and invoiced under the provider’s billing terms.
Private health fund reconciliation.
HICAPS rebates and patient gap payments are reconciled against the billing records so that the full value of each psychology session is captured in the income records.
Associate psychologist arrangement assessment.
Each associate arrangement is assessed against the ATO’s employment test. Super obligations are calculated and applied where required. PAYG withholding is applied where the arrangement meets the employment definition. The practice is not carrying an undisclosed super liability for arrangements that have operated without formal assessment.
BAS preparation and lodgment.
Prepared from fully reconciled records with the correct GST-free treatment applied to psychology services. Lodged by a registered BAS agent with the four-week extension on both lodgment and payment.
Profit and loss reporting.
Revenue reported by funding stream so the practice owner can see the contribution of Medicare, NDIS, EAP and private billing to overall practice performance and can assess the relative profitability of each referral channel.
A certified and qualified bookkeeper
Working with Clients Needs Bookkeeping means the financial administration of your practice is handled end to end by a registered BAS Agent who understands the specific requirements of a dental business. In practical terms, this covers:
Why your practice needs a registered BAS agent, not just a bookkeeper
Matthew Powell is a registered BAS agent. Verify at tpb.gov.au. Safe harbour protection and the four-week extension apply to every BAS lodged through a registered agent.
Software: MYOB Diamond Partner, MYOB Certified Consultant, Xero Silver Champion Partner, Xero Advisor Certified, Xero L2 Certified Professional, Xero Payroll Specialist. Also works with QuickBooks.
About Matthew Powell, registered BAS agent and bookkeeper
Matthew Powell is the director of Clients Needs Bookkeeping and a registered BAS Agent with more than 15 years of experience working with small and medium businesses across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
He works across MYOB, Xero, and QuickBooks, and has particular depth of experience in health and medical practice bookkeeping, including dental, medical, and allied health clients.
Matthew is known for being accessible, clients regularly comment that he responds quickly, handles problems promptly, and communicates in plain language rather than accounting jargon.
He works with business owners from any industry sector or niche who provide services or sells products. He does your bookkeeping remotely and takes on new clients with the intent of building a long-term relationship rather than processing a transaction.
Bookkeeping Packages start from $150 per month. The first consultation is free.
Read some of our bookkeeping case studies
Below are real life examples from businesses like yours who needed to use a bookkeeper.
Frequently asked questions before hiring a bookkeeper
Are psychology sessions GST-free?
Yes. Psychology sessions provided by a registered psychologist are GST-free as health services under the GST Act. This applies to Medicare Better Access sessions, NDIS funded sessions, EAP sessions and privately billed sessions. Any non-clinical services or products provided by the practice need to be assessed individually.
How do EAP referrals get recorded correctly?
EAP income is generated by a referral from a corporate provider and invoiced to that provider rather than to the patient. Income is recognised as sessions are delivered and invoiced under the provider’s billing schedule, not when the corporate provider processes payment. The corporate provider is recorded as a debtor in the accounts receivable position and reconciled against the referral schedule and payment receipts.
We are paying more than $15,000 per year for bookkeeping and do not feel we are getting value. What should we do?
The first step is a file review to assess what is currently in place, whether the software is correctly configured, and whether the service being provided matches what is being charged.
Matthew has reviewed a number of health practice files where the fee substantially exceeded the value being delivered and in every case was able to restructure the arrangement to deliver more thorough bookkeeping at a lower cost. The first consultation is free and no obligation is created by that conversation.
What does bookkeeping cost for a psychology practice? Packages start from $150 per month. A solo psychologist with a single billing channel has different requirements from a group practice with associates, NDIS participants and EAP referrals from multiple providers.
The first consultation is free.
Ready to get the financial side of your chiropractor practice managed by a bookkeeper?
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You already know there are things in the books that are not right.
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The personal expenses that went through the business account during a tight month are still sitting there.
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The BAS is lodged but you are not entirely sure the figures are accurate.
None of these are unusual, and none of them are unfixable but every month they sit unresolved is another month of compounding risk.
Packages from
$150 per month
Structured around what your business actually needs
Registered & certified bookkeeper
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