Monday, September 14, 2015

Reflections on Finance: All five modules by Stephanie Phillips

This weeks module over finance was very interesting. I have never personally taken a business course in college. I am terrible in math and excel is like a foreign language to me (hence the reason I became a dental hygienist since there is very little math involved!). However, now that I teach a course to my second year students that covers topics such as office management, I felt led to complete all 5 courses under the module. I tell my students all the time that the patient IS our number one priority but dentistry is a small business that needs to generate income in order to keep the door open and to pay the overhead and their salaries!  I delved into the financial aspect of the course with hesitation because I clearly struggle with many of the concepts. After taking these 5 courses, I feel better prepared to teach my students some basic information about finance....at least enough that I think they will understand what it takes to keep the doors open to the dental office. I will now be able to explain how the dentist will have fixed cost and variable cost and be able to give examples of both. I will probably implement an activity similar to the module in which my students will place examples I give them in a column labeled "fixed" or "variable". I will also discuss hidden cost and how letting dental materials expire or wasting products can increase the hidden cost.
One topic that I learned and found very interesting is that cash flow is different from profit and loss. I think my favorite activity was experimenting with the cash flow projection worksheet. One time I actually ran out of money within a few months because I was eager to buy and advertise for the business. I was able to start over and see how that affected my cash flow. I will definitely implement this in the classroom with my students even though they really don't have control over that situation, it would be good to teach them why the office is concerned with production.
The only difficulty I can think of in implementing these topics is that many of my students share the same fear about math as I do! I hope by having hands on activities similar to the modules and only giving a basic understanding will eliminate that fear in them.

9 comments:

  1. These are great observations, Stephanie. I teach a class on reading and interpreting financial statements and we talk about how a business can look good on paper but fail because they have extended credit to too many customers and are not managing their accounts receivable. The cash flow worksheets are useful and I plan to incorporate them into my class.

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    1. Thanks! I think incorporating the worksheets in your class is a great idea. I like how the worksheets are accessible for download in the module.

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  2. Hi, Stephanie.
    Your ideas about teaching your students about the need for production as part of the office overhead is really right on point. Even though students may not have a lot of control over how many patients come into the practice, they can certainly impact each one with whom they work directly. If the patients have a good experience, they'll be back. As long as old patients keep coming and referring other people, your students' job security remains steady.

    Thanks for sharing your ideas. I may want to borrow some of them. ;-)

    Brenda

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    1. Thanks Brenda. I would love to share them. I may need to borrow your ideas too! 😁

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  3. The business aspect of most professions is typically the most challenging for an entrepreneur. Many believe that all they need to know are the skills to complete their particular job and are not taught the basics of office management.

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  4. HI Stephanie - My aim was also to go through all of the modules. However, I spent a long time going through the Finding Funding section and I got a little frustrated. The instruction were a difficult to follow and and I spent a lot figuring it out. Hopefully, I will have it figured out for next week. I agree with you about the hidden cost aspect - it crucial to keep track of inventory and getting the most out of your resources.

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  5. HI Stephanie - My aim was also to go through all of the modules. However, I spent a long time going through the Finding Funding section and I got a little frustrated. The instruction were a difficult to follow and and I spent a lot figuring it out. Hopefully, I will have it figured out for next week. I agree with you about the hidden cost aspect - it crucial to keep track of inventory and getting the most out of your resources.

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