There are five figures every owner should know without opening a laptop.

Not perfectly, not to the decimal — roughly, and without having to go and check. Most owners cannot say a single one. A short brief on the five numbers that actually tell you how the practice is doing.

• 01Why "busy, fine, better than last year probably" is not a number — it's a guess in a business suit.
• 02Revenue per clinical hour: the number that tells you whether you're growing the business or just filling more hours of the same thing.
• 03The other four figures every owner should be able to say without opening a laptop.