Accounting in the UAE is no longer a private notebook. Quarterly VAT, Corporate Tax registration and returns, WPS, and auditors who will not sign a file they cannot tie to the bank all sit on the same ledger. We have kept books from Office 512 since 2024 as if the next reader is a reviewer, because that is usually true. We take on full outsourced finance or a defined slice — VAT only, payroll only, year-end statements — and we write that slice into the engagement letter so nobody discovers a missing return in week thirteen.
Books, ledgers and management reporting
Bookkeeping here means a maintained general ledger, bank recs that actually rec, and AR/AP that an owner can collect against. We do not call a folder of invoices a set of books. Monthly or quarterly packs include trial balance, statements, and a short note on cash, receivables and anything that will embarrass you in an audit. Outsourced CFO work is the same file with more judgement: budgets, cash-flow forecasts, board packs, and a call before you sign a facility or a related-party contract. If you already have a bookkeeper, we can still take the close and the statements.
VAT, Corporate Tax and WPS payroll
VAT registration and quarterly filing is done from the EmaraTax / FTA process that applies to your licence — mainland or zone — with input tax you can support. We do not file a return that the purchase invoices cannot carry. Corporate Tax registration and filing follows the FTA calendar and the entity you actually have, including whether you are in a free zone that thinks it has a qualifying status. Payroll processing includes WPS files, SIF generation, and the payroll journals that must match what left the bank. End-of-service and leave balances are not an afterthought in June.
Statements a bank and an auditor can use
Year-end financial statements are prepared to IFRS as used in the UAE, with notes that match the licence and the related parties you actually have. If this office will also audit, independence is discussed first. If another auditor will sign, we prepare a file they can start from: TB, recs, fixed-asset register, VAT workings, CT workings. That is cheaper than discovering in fieldwork that the books were never closed.
What this desk covers
Bookkeeping and ledger maintenance
Day books, bank recs and a general ledger kept current enough that VAT and CT are not an archaeological dig.
View this service →VAT registration and quarterly filing
Registration, return preparation and filing, with workings an FTA query can be answered from.
View this service →Corporate Tax registration and filing
CT registration, return support and the computations that sit behind the FTA submission for your entity type.
View this service →Payroll processing and WPS
Monthly payroll, WPS/SIF files, and journals that agree to the bank and to MOHRE records.
View this service →Financial statement preparation
IFRS statements and notes for management, the bank, the auditor or the free-zone pack.
View this service →Accounts receivable and payable
AR/AP ledgers, ageing, and the supplier and customer files that cash collection actually depends on.
View this service →Outsourced CFO / management reporting
Monthly packs, KPI notes and a named person in Deira who will take the board’s finance questions.
View this service →Budgeting and cash-flow forecasting
Forward cash and budget vs actual, built from the same ledger as the VAT return — not a separate spreadsheet myth.
View this service →Questions we are asked
Do you take on companies that have never filed VAT on time?
Yes, but the first engagement is a catch-up: reconstruct, quantify, then file. We will not quietly submit a perfect current quarter on top of four missing ones. Tell us the last accepted return and we will scope the arrears.
Can you keep the books and still audit the company?
Not as a casual dual role. If we prepare the statements, an independent audit needs safeguards or a different auditor. We would rather have that conversation in week one than at licence-renewal week.
Which accounting software do you work in?
We work in the ledger you already have if it is complete enough to rec. If it is not, we will say so and propose a clean file. The software brand matters less than whether bank, VAT and payroll can be tied out.
When should a free-zone company worry about Corporate Tax?
When it has a licence, a year-end, and a story about qualifying status that has not been tested against the FTA’s actual conditions. We register and file from the entity you have, not the brochure the zone handed you at setup.