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Accounting, Audit & Compliance

Obligations attach to the company, not to the founder's availability. They are rarely difficult — they are simply missed.

Put the Books in OrderExplore the Practice

Books maintained, returns filed, UBO current, audits on time — the recurring duties every UAE entity carries from the day it is licensed.

The practice

What We Handle

01

Records & audit

The books, and the statements built from them.

Bookkeeping & Management Accounts→Monthly recording, reconciliation and reporting, maintained to the standard a filing, an audit or a bank review will require.Audit & Assurance→IFRS financial statements and statutory audit — for renewals, bank facilities, re-domiciliation and regulators.
02

Compliance & oversight

The registers, the reports, and the financial function itself.

ESR, UBO & AML Compliance→Economic Substance notifications and reports, beneficial ownership registers, AML and KYC obligations.Outsourced CFO→Reporting, controls, cash planning and preparation for audit or investment — the function without the appointment.
The calendar

What a UAE Entity Carries

Continuous
Accounting records maintainedAll entities
UBO register kept currentAll entities — updated on every change
On a cycle
Corporate tax return — annualAll taxable persons, incl. free zone entities claiming 0%
VAT return — periodicRegistered entities
ESR notification and report — annualEntities carrying on relevant activities
Audited financial statements — annualDepending on jurisdiction, licence and size
Licence & establishment card renewal — annualAll entities
Once, on a deadline
Corporate tax registrationAll taxable persons
VAT registration (mainland)Mandatory above AED 375,000 — rolling 12 months

The register obligations are the ones most often misunderstood. A UBO register is not filed once at incorporation — it is a live record that must reflect reality, and it is the change of shareholder eighteen months later that goes unrecorded.

Methodology

A Calendar, Not Reminders

Recurring compliance runs on a calendar. At engagement we set out every obligation that applies to your entity, with its deadline, and take responsibility for meeting it. You are told what has been filed, not asked whether it should be.

Fees are fixed per period against a defined scope — transaction volume, number of entities, VAT status, audit requirement — rather than billed by the hour.

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Complications

Where It Goes Wrong

Books built for the year-end rather than for use

Records assembled retrospectively in a rush satisfy nobody — not the auditor, not the bank, and not a tax authority asking about a specific transaction.

Audit commissioned too late

Audited statements are frequently required at short notice: a bank facility, a licence renewal, a re-domiciliation, an investor. An audit cannot be produced quickly from records that were never maintained.

Personal and company money mixed

Common in owner-managed entities, and the single most damaging habit for both audit and banking. It undermines the separation the structure exists to create.

Free zone treated as light-touch

A free zone entity claiming 0% corporate tax has more to demonstrate than a mainland entity paying it, not less.

The dormant company assumption

An entity that does not trade still registers, still files, still maintains a UBO register, and still renews.

Registers never updated

Shareholders change, addresses change, directors resign. The register is expected to follow.

Accounting, Audit & ComplianceDubai · United Arab Emirates
FAQ

Questions

Does my company need an audit?

It depends on jurisdiction, licence type and size. Several free zones require audited statements for renewal; others do not. Banks and regulators may require them regardless of whether the registry does.

We have not kept proper books. Can that be fixed?

Usually. Reconstructing prior periods from bank statements and source documents is ordinary work, and it is better done deliberately than discovered during an audit or a query.

Can you take over from our current accountant?

Yes. We review what exists, identify anything outstanding, and take the calendar forward.

What happens if a deadline has already been missed?

Bring it current as quickly as possible — exposure generally increases with time. Late filings are common and remediable; ignored ones compound.

Do you handle multiple entities?

Yes, including groups with mixed mainland, free zone and offshore entities, and consolidated reporting where required.

Is bookkeeping needed if the company is dormant?

Records and filings are still required. The volume is minimal, but the obligation does not lapse.