Top 80 expenses to consider when starting or running an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) company

Creating an expense list is an important part of developing your profit and loss projections, as well as your cash flow projections. (Follow us to catch our upcoming blogs on profit and loss projections and cashflow projections.) Starting with an expense list from an agency that’s been in operation is a good place to start. PBH is providing a list of 80 common expense items you may have in your organization. These items are listed in no particular order. 

1. Retirement plan
2. Continuing education credits (CEUs)
3. Marketing for clients
4. Staff recruitment
5. Association membership fees
6. Automobile and other travel expenses
7. Bad debt
8. Annual banquets or staff events
9. Charitable contributions
10. Cleaning services (if you have an office)
11. Seasonal expenses which may apply such as slow removal, if that applies to your location
12. Are you using a vendor for collections? If so, include that here. 
13. Remodeling or updates over time (painting, new carpets, etc)? Include that as well.
14. Computer and internet expenses
15. Credit card processing fees
16. Allocation of employee benefits
17. Vacation wage expense
18. Garbage disposal
19. HIPAA compliance fees
20. Hiring and training
21. Special trainings
22. Commercial auto insurance if applicable 
23. General liability
24. Professional liability
25. Workers comp
26. Meals and entertainment
27. Clinical meeting snacks
28. Professional outings
29. Miscellaneous expense
30. Moving expenses if applicable
31. Office supplies
32. Books
33. Clinic budget if applicable
34. Clinical directors
35. Copier lease
36. General office supplies
37. Office furniture
38. Office materials
39. Staff supplies
40. Current staff material
41. Current staff technology
42. New staff materials
43.  New staff technology
44. Other employee related expenses including payroll, payroll fees, and payroll taxes
45. Background checks
46. FSA fee
47. Staff training and development
48. Travel expenses
49. Wages and benefits – BTs
50. Wages and benefits (i.e. employee related expenses such as healthcare, dental, life) – BCBAs
51. Wages and benefits – support staff
52. Wages – training and development
53. Wages – bonuses
54. Wages – holiday bonuses
55. Wages – monthly bonuses
56. Postage
57. Accounting
58. Legal
59. ABA Business consulting (PBH)
60. Billing
61. Program materials
62. Publications
63. Rent
64. Repairs and maintenance
65. SBA line of credit fee
66. Ongoing monthly loan/SBA payments
67. Shredding
68. Accounting software
69. Anti-virus
70. Business email
71. Credit monitoring for owner
72. File sharing
73. HR software
74. Scheduling software
75. Special occasions gatherings
76. Staff appreciation
77. Subcontractors
78. Telephone
79. Utilities
80. Website expense
81. Taxes

While there could be any number of expenses in an ABA provider organization, the previous list should function as a guide to some of the more common expense items for providers up to about 4 million in annual revenue. Larger providers or providers with a different service model other than insurance funded ABA services, will still find valuable elements in this list.  

Interested in learning more? For more blogs from our series on critical considerations for starting a successful ABA company and strategic financial planning for ABA companies, or to learn more about how PBH can help with these or other ABA business, executive coaching, or OBM needs, please email us at info@partnersaba.com, or check us out at www.partnersaba.com where you can sign up at the bottom of the page for further blogs and emails. You can also like us on Facebook and Linkedin to follow our posts. 

To learn more about the author, Brandon Herscovitch, PhD, BCBA-D, LABA, click on this link.