4 BOOKKEEPING HABITS WE’RE LEAVING BEHIND IN 2025
If we looked at your browser history from the last week of December, would we see "how to find a lost e-transfer" or "Jane.app commission report help"?
You started your clinic because you’re a healer, not because you wanted to become a part-time forensic accountant. But as we step into 2026, it’s time to admit that "winging it" with your bookkeeping isn't just stressful; it’s holding your clinic back from its true potential.
If you want your clinic to scale this year, your finances need to be as professional as your clinical care. Here are the four bookkeeping habits we’re officially leaving in 2025.
1. The Manual E-Transfer Marathon
The 2025 Habit: Every payday, you log into Jane, pull the Practitioner Commission Report, and then spend two hours manually typing in e-transfers for your subcontractors.
Why it has to go: It’s prone to human error, it’s hard to track for audits, and it’s a massive waste of your time. If you mis-type one email address, you're looking at a multi-day headache.
The 2026 Fix: Plooto (or Telpay) Stop the manual data entry. In 2026, you calculate commission, your subcontractors send you an invoice, and this gets imported directly into a payment platform like Plooto or Telpay. These tools allow you to pay your entire team at once. You approve the total, they handle the distribution. It’s professional, secure, and takes minutes, not hours.
2. Ignoring the Aging AR Report
The 2025 Habit: You assume if someone didn’t pay, the front desk caught it. You only look at your Accounts Receivable (AR) when you're short on cash or when your bookkeeper finally sends a nudge.
Why it has to go: Uncollected revenue is a leak in your boat. The longer an invoice sits unpaid, the less likely it is to ever be recovered. You worked for that money and should be in your bank!
The 2026 Fix: The Friday AR Fifteen Commit to a 15-minute weekly check-in with Jane’s Accounts Receivable Report. January is the perfect time to clean up those lingering co-pays from 2025. If it’s over 30 days old, it’s time for a polite follow-up. Also consider keeping a card on file to process patient payments to eliminate the AR chase.
3. The Bank Balance Trap
The 2025 Habit: Checking your bank app to see if you had a good month. If there’s money in the account, you feel successful; if it’s low, you panic.
Why it has to go: Your bank balance doesn't show you your profit. It doesn't show you the $2,000 in bills you haven't paid yet or the taxes you haven't set aside. You can have a full bank account and still be losing money.
The 2026 Fix: The Monthly P&L Deep-Dive By the 15th of every month, you should be looking at a Profit & Loss (P&L) Statement. Look specifically at your Operating Margin. Are your therapist splits sustainable? Is your rent eating too much of your revenue? When you know your P&L, you make decisions based on data, not gut feelings.
4. Treating Gift Card Cash as Pure Profit
The 2025 Habit: You sold $5,000 in gift cards in December and celebrated it as a massive revenue month.
Why it has to go: Technically, a gift card is a liability—it’s a service you owe someone. If you spend all that cash in January on new equipment but then have to provide $5,000 worth of free treatments in February, your cash flow will tank.
The 2026 Fix: Liability Tracking in Jane Use Jane’s Gift Card Sales Report to see exactly how much unearned revenue is sitting on your books. Keep that liability in mind so your 2026 cash flow stays healthy even when people start redeeming those cards.
Bookkeeping shouldn’t feel like a heavy lift. By using tech and mastering a few key Jane reports, you’re setting yourself up for a year where you actually know your numbers.
