Hotel and Restaurant Audits in the UAE

The statutory audit tests the year-end figures. The leaks happen during the year, at the front desk, in the store room and in the kitchen. A sound plan covers both.

What the statutory audit covers

The statutory audit gives an opinion on the financial statements. For a hotel, the auditor tests room revenue in the property management system against the ledger, the city ledger of corporate accounts, guest deposits, food and beverage stock, payroll, and the furniture and equipment on the balance sheet. Where an operator runs the hotel under a management agreement, the auditor also tests the fees it charges the owner.

For a restaurant group, the audit ties the point-of-sale reports to the bank and to the payouts from delivery platforms, and tests food cost, stock counts and staff costs.

Corporate tax adds a rule of its own. Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires audited financial statements from a business with revenue above AED 50 million in the tax period, and from every qualifying free zone person.

What a year-end audit will not show

An auditor works from samples. A sample rarely shows a pattern that repeats every night. In hotels and restaurants, the usual ones are:

• rooms sold to walk-in guests or no-shows and never posted to a guest folio
• housekeeping reporting a room as occupied while the front office shows it empty
• voids, discounts and complimentary meals entered at the till without approval
• stock that leaves the store room with no matching sale
• guest balances adjusted or written off with no reason recorded

Finding these takes checks during the year, by people who know how a front office and a kitchen run.

Food safety is a separate audit

Dubai Municipality inspects food outlets, and most food safety systems are built on HACCP, the standard method for finding and controlling food hazards. Inspection findings can lead to fines and, in serious cases, a closure order. An audit before the inspector arrives shows the gaps while they are still cheap to fix.

Where ProFix comes in

Our partner ProFix works with hotels, resorts and restaurants in the UAE and New Zealand. Its team runs food safety and HACCP audits aligned to Dubai Municipality requirements, and mystery shopping that tests reservations, no-show handling, guest balances and housekeeping records from the guest's side.

For owners, ProFix also reviews hotel management agreements and runs pre-opening audits, which check the operator's fees and obligations against the contract.

How the work divides

CALX signs the statutory audit and handles corporate tax, VAT and the accounting. ProFix covers the operational checks that a year-end audit does not reach. If you run a hotel, a resort or a restaurant group, talk to us about the audit and the tax work.