Bookkeeping and CFO support
Accounting services in Dubai that close the books every month, so year end is a formality.
Monthly bookkeeping, the VAT and corporate tax returns that come out of it, payroll and a management pack. Kept by a firm that also audits.
Each month
Three things leave our office by a fixed date every month.
Bookkeeping done once a year, in a rush before the audit, is reconstruction. We close every month within the following month, and the same close feeds the returns and the pack, so nothing is prepared twice.
The books
Every bank and card transaction posted and reconciled. Invoices entered with the document attached. Fixed assets and depreciation current. Owner and intercompany balances tracked, because they are the first thing an auditor and the FTA look at.
The returns
The quarterly VAT return prepared from the closed books and filed by the 28th by our registered Tax Agent. The corporate tax return from the same ledger at year end, with the transfer pricing disclosure and small business relief where it applies.
The management pack
Profit and loss against last month and last year, the balance sheet, cash and who owes you, and half a page in plain English on what changed and why. A PDF you can read on your phone.
Software
Your books stay in software you own and can log in to.
We work in three systems. The subscription is in your name, and if you ever leave us the books leave with you.
- Zoho BooksOur usual choice for a UAE company. Simple to use, and the VAT return comes straight out of it.
- QuickBooksFor companies with a US owner or a US parent that already reports in it. The firm is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
- OdooFor companies that need stock, projects or manufacturing in the same system as the accounts. The firm is an Odoo partner.
CFO support
When you need the numbers to make a decision, not just to record one.
Bookkeeping tells you what happened. CFO support is the hours each month spent on what happens next: the cash forecast, the price to quote on a big contract, whether to hire, what the bank will ask before it lends, how to structure a second company.
A company needs it at one of three moments. When it grows past the point where the owner can hold the numbers in their head. When it starts talking to a bank or an investor. And in the year before a sale or a partner exit, when the accounts are read by someone looking for fault.
A fixed number of hours a month, agreed in advance, with the same person each time.
When the bank or the free zone wants a feasibility study before it says yes, that is a separate piece of work on the firm's license. See Advisory.
If you already have an accountant and want the work checked rather than taken over, see Accounting supervision.
The reconciliation
Every line in the bank matched to a line in the books. Every month.
The bank reconciliation is the one control that catches almost everything: the invoice paid twice, the customer who short-paid, the subscription nobody canceled, the transfer to the owner never recorded. Books that reconcile to the bank every month end can be audited quickly and defended to the FTA. Books that do not are guesses.
A month is not closed until every bank and card account agrees to the statement to the fils, and every unmatched line has a name against it.
Kept by an auditor
Why it matters that the firm keeping your books also signs audit reports.
Not because we will audit them. Independence rules do not let a firm sign an opinion on statements it prepared itself, and we do not get round that. If we keep your books, the audit is done by a separate team under a separate engagement letter where the rules allow it, or by another firm we hand a clean file to. We tell you which before the year starts.
The point is different. The people keeping your books know what an auditor will ask for, because they are asked every spring. So invoices are attached at the time, the owner's account is kept clean, related party charges are documented as they happen, and the year end file is ready on the first day of the audit. That is what keeps the audit at 6 to 8 weeks rather than months.
Fees
A fixed monthly fee, agreed before we start.
A fixed fee, quoted within one business day of seeing your license and a month of bank statements, before any work starts. Bookkeeping is priced on the size of the job, not on hours. Payroll is priced per employee. The quarterly VAT return is included in the monthly fee. The corporate tax return is quoted separately at year end.
Questions
What owners ask us about bookkeeping.
- 01
Our books are two years behind. Can you catch them up?
Yes. Catch-up is quoted as a one-off job from the bank statements and whatever invoices exist, then the monthly service starts from the first clean month. We tell you first what cannot be reconstructed.
- 02
Do we need to be in Dubai to work with you?
No. The books live in the software, the documents arrive by email or a shared folder, and the monthly pack goes out as a PDF. You can run a whole year without a visit. The office in Port Saeed is there when you want one.
- 03
Can you take over from our current accountant without a gap?
Yes. We ask for read access to the existing software, the last VAT return and the last accounts, and run the first month alongside the handover. The FTA Tax Agent link moves to us so the next return is on time.
- 04
Who do we actually talk to?
The person who keeps your books, by name, on WhatsApp or email, and the partner who reviews them every month. There is no ticket queue.
Contact us