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Industries.

Eleven kinds of UAE business, and what the numbers have to do in each. The same file, the same team, read the way your industry needs it read.

Industries · Choose yours

What the numbers have to do in your business.

Trading and distributionTrading and distributionMargins, stock and working capitalContracting and constructionContracting and constructionContract ledger, cash and claimsReal estateReal estateYield, escrow and portfolio cashE-commerce and online servicesE-commerce and online servicesUnit economics and cash burnProfessional services and agenciesProfessional services and agenciesUtilisation, pricing and recoveryFree zone companiesFree zone companiesStructure, substance and the 0% rateHolding companies and family groupsHolding companies and family groupsConsolidation, dividends and successionHealthcare and educationHealthcare and educationCapacity, fees and deferred incomeHospitality, restaurants and retailHospitality, restaurants and retailCost of sales, outlets and break-evenLogistics, shipping and freightLogistics, shipping and freightMargin per shipment and working capitalManufacturing and industrialManufacturing and industrialCosting, capacity and capital

Audit by jurisdiction

Who has to be audited, and by whom.

Not every auditor can sign in every zone.

WhereAudit requiredStandardWho may sign

The company must appoint an auditor to audit its accounts every year, prepare annual financial accounts, and apply international accounting standards.Source  Federal Decree-Law 32 of 2021, Article 27

DMCC companies prepare annual audited accounts under IFRS, and the auditor has to be approved and registered with the DMCC Authority.Source  DMCC Company Regulations 2020, Regulations 71.2 and 71.3(b)

Audited accounts are filed with the authority through the Dubai Trade portal, and the signed auditor report is handed over within two weeks of the request.Source  JAFZA e-Financial Statement Submission Guide

An auditor must be appointed for each financial year, unless the directors reasonably resolve that audited accounts are unlikely to be required.Source  ADGM Companies Regulations 2020, sections 457 and 461

DIFC is a financial free zone with its own companies regime and its own register of approved auditors.Source  Cabinet Resolution 28 of 2007

Nearly every zone requires audited accounts for licence renewal, and most keep their own approved auditor list. We confirm the current rule with the authority before we take the engagement.Source  Confirm with the authority

Zone rules change. We confirm the current requirement with the authority before we accept an engagement.

Trading and distributionMargins, stock and working capital
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Industry

Trading and distribution

Margins, stock and working capital

A trading margin is decided by three numbers: what you pay, how long stock sits, and how long customers take to pay.

The rules of the business

  • Supplier terms, freight and currency move the landed cost every month, and the price list rarely follows.
  • Stock ties up cash: every extra week of stock-holding is a week of borrowing.
  • Customers on credit set your cash cycle; one large slow payer can stop the business buying.
  • Two tax points to get right: import VAT that agrees with customs, and group purchases priced at arm's length.

What usually goes wrong

  • Gross margin known only at the year end, because cost of sales is not tracked by product line or supplier.
  • Slow-moving stock never written down, so the balance sheet flatters the business and the bank.
  • Growth funded from suppliers until the terms tighten, and the overdraft is the surprise.

What we deliver

  • Landed-cost and margin models by product line and supplier, refreshed monthly on WorkBench.
  • A working-capital plan: stock turns, debtor days and supplier terms, with targets and owners.
  • Financing packs for trade facilities, and a cash forecast the bank can follow.
  • Clean monthly books, with the VAT and transfer pricing points handled inside them.
  • Pricing reviews whenever freight, currency or duty move.
Contracting and constructionContract ledger, cash and claims
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Industry

Contracting and construction

Contract ledger, cash and claims

Cash arrives late and costs arrive early; the business lives or dies on the contract ledger.

The rules of the business

  • Every contract is its own business, with a margin that changes as the estimate to complete changes.
  • Certification lags, retentions and advances decide the cash cycle more than the profit does.
  • Variations and claims are where the margin is won or lost, and they need pricing the day they are agreed.
  • VAT timing on claims and retentions is the tax point that catches contractors; corporate tax follows the accounting profit.

What usually goes wrong

  • Cost-to-complete left at tender, so a losing contract surfaces only when it is finished.
  • Cash forecasts that ignore retentions and certification lags.
  • Bidding on turnover: winning work that cannot carry its own overhead.

What we deliver

  • A contract-by-contract margin and cash schedule, updated monthly, that runs the business.
  • Bid reviews: overhead recovery, cash profile and risk before you sign.
  • A cash forecast that follows certification, and the paperwork for project finance, bonds and guarantees.
  • Monthly accounts with revenue over time done properly, and the VAT timing control built in.
Real estateYield, escrow and portfolio cash
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Industry

Real estate

Yield, escrow and portfolio cash

Developers, landlords and brokers run on different numbers: absorption, yield and commission, and all three depend on timing.

The rules of the business

  • A developer's cash sits in escrow and is released on progress; the funding gap is the whole plan.
  • A landlord's return is yield after service charges, voids and arrears, not the headline rent.
  • Brokers live on pipeline conversion and commission timing, with anti-money-laundering duties on every deal.
  • Tax points: mixed portfolios recover input VAT on an apportionment, and corporate tax reaches rental income and disposal gains.

What usually goes wrong

  • Fair-value gains taken as profit and distributed, with no cash behind them.
  • Service charges, deposits and escrow receipts treated as income before they are earned.
  • A project appraised on sales prices and never re-run when costs and absorption change.

What we deliver

  • Project appraisals and funding plans: escrow releases, construction draws and the gap in between.
  • Portfolio reporting: yield, occupancy, arrears and cash by property, monthly.
  • Escrow and service-charge reconciliations, and lease accounting kept simple.
  • The VAT apportionment method and the corporate tax position on the portfolio.
  • AML compliance for brokerages on ComplyWise.
E-commerce and online servicesUnit economics and cash burn
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Industry

E-commerce and online services

Unit economics and cash burn

Fast growth, thin margins after fees and returns, and numbers scattered across platforms and gateways.

The rules of the business

  • Platform fees, returns, delivery and marketing sit between gross sales and the margin, and they move every month.
  • Growth eats cash: stock, marketing and gateway settlement lags run ahead of collections.
  • Investors want unit economics, cohort behaviour and a runway, not a revenue chart.
  • Tax points: VAT on refunds and foreign services, and where a foreign owner's company is taxed; e-invoicing arrives from 2027.

What usually goes wrong

  • Growth measured on gross sales while fees, returns and delivery costs eat the margin unnoticed.
  • Marketing spend with no payback measurement, so the cheapest channel is never found.
  • Refunds without credit notes, and foreign software bought without the reverse charge.

What we deliver

  • Unit economics: contribution per order and per channel after fees, returns and delivery, on your dashboard.
  • A sales-to-settlement reconciliation from the platforms and the gateways, every month.
  • Runway and burn modelling, and an investor-ready data room when you raise money.
  • Monthly accounts that treat stock and marketing properly, with the VAT points handled.
  • E-invoicing readiness before the deadline that applies to you.
Professional services and agenciesUtilisation, pricing and recovery
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Industry

Professional services and agencies

Utilisation, pricing and recovery

The asset is people and time; the profit depends on utilisation, pricing and what is still unbilled.

The rules of the business

  • Fee pressure and scope creep turn good clients into unprofitable ones without anyone noticing.
  • Partners see billings; few see recovery rates, write-offs and the cost of unbilled work.
  • Growth means hiring ahead of revenue, and the salary bill is fixed while the fees are not.
  • Tax points: exports of services are zero-rated only on strict conditions, and owner pay must be at arm's length for corporate tax.

What usually goes wrong

  • Utilisation and recovery rates unknown, so unprofitable clients are kept for years.
  • Work in progress never measured, so the year-end profit is whatever happened to be invoiced.
  • Pricing by the hour when the client is buying an outcome.

What we deliver

  • Utilisation, recovery and profitability by client and by partner, monthly.
  • Pricing and scoping models: fixed fees, retainers and stage gates that protect the margin.
  • Capacity planning: hiring against the pipeline, not against hope.
  • Partnership accounts, profit-share and admission or exit workings, with the tax points covered.
  • AML policies and the compliance officer role for regulated professions, on ComplyWise.
Free zone companiesStructure, substance and the 0% rate
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Industry

Free zone companies

Structure, substance and the 0% rate

The free zone is a business decision before it is a tax decision: market access, substance and cost all move with it.

The rules of the business

  • Mainland customers can be served only through the routes the zone allows, and each route has a cost and a tax answer.
  • The 0% rate is conditional: qualifying income, substance in the zone and the de minimis limit are tested every year.
  • Licence renewals, office and staff rules and share transfers differ zone by zone.
  • The second tax point: the financial statements the zone and the 0% rate require, filed on time.

What usually goes wrong

  • A structure chosen for the 0% rate that costs more in substance than it saves.
  • Qualifying status lost because mainland sales crept past the de minimis limit.
  • Two entities where one would do, and a group nobody can explain to a bank.

What we deliver

  • A structure review: which zone, which licence, which route to the mainland, and what each costs.
  • Substance planning: what the zone requires against what the business needs.
  • A written Qualifying Free Zone Person test each year, before the return.
  • Management accounts that split qualifying and non-qualifying income as you go.
Holding companies and family groupsConsolidation, dividends and succession
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Industry

Holding companies and family groups

Consolidation, dividends and succession

A holding company earns nothing by itself; it exists to own, finance and control, and the family needs one view of all three.

The rules of the business

  • Each company reports its own profit; nobody sees the group's cash, debt and exposures together.
  • Money moves between companies as loans, dividends and recharges, and each route has a cost and a rule.
  • Succession, shareholder agreements and dividend policy are decided late, usually in a crisis.
  • Tax points: the participation exemption on dividends and gains, and interest between group companies at arm's length within the deduction cap.

What usually goes wrong

  • No consolidated view, so the family knows each company's profit and not the group's cash.
  • Intra-group loans with no interest and no agreement, and dividends paid out of profits that were never distributable.
  • A subsidiary bought or sold without a valuation, a step plan or a working capital adjustment.

What we deliver

  • A group management pack: cash, debt, dividends and exposures in one place, monthly.
  • Group structure and treasury: how money should move between companies, and the agreements behind it.
  • Valuations, restructuring step plans and due diligence when companies are bought, sold or merged.
  • A dividend and succession policy the numbers can carry, with the participation exemption and interest rules built in.
  • Beneficial owner registers and the annual compliance calendar for every entity.
Healthcare and educationCapacity, fees and deferred income
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Industry

Healthcare and education

Capacity, fees and deferred income

Regulated, licensed and fee-driven: capacity is fixed, fees are approved, and the money arrives before the service.

The rules of the business

  • Revenue is capped by chairs, beds and seats, so utilisation and fee mix decide the margin.
  • Fees arrive in advance and are earned over the term, so cash and profit tell different stories.
  • Insurance rejections and slow payers turn a full clinic into a cash problem.
  • Tax points: zero-rating applies only to defined services, and input VAT on a mixed campus or hospital is apportioned.

What usually goes wrong

  • Term fees booked in the month collected, so profit and cash tell opposite stories.
  • Insurance receivables ageing unwatched until the rejections arrive.
  • Expansion on headcount before utilisation justifies it.

What we deliver

  • Capacity and utilisation reporting: revenue per chair, per bed or per seat, monthly.
  • Fee-approval submissions and budgets built from the actual cost base.
  • Insurance receivables management, and a cash forecast that follows the term calendar.
  • Deferred income done properly in the monthly accounts, with the zero-rating matrix and the VAT apportionment.
Hospitality, restaurants and retailCost of sales, outlets and break-even
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Industry

Hospitality, restaurants and retail

Cost of sales, outlets and break-even

Thousands of small transactions a day; the business is won or lost on cost of sales, wastage and the next site.

The rules of the business

  • Food and product cost, wastage and labour decide the margin week by week, not year by year.
  • Delivery apps and franchisors take their share first, and the commissions are easy to lose sight of.
  • Every new outlet is a lease, a fit-out and a break-even that must be known before signing.
  • Tax points: VAT reconciled to the tills and the apps, and excise for stock of sweetened drinks or tobacco.

What usually goes wrong

  • Cost of sales known only from the annual stock count, so wastage and theft go unmeasured for a year.
  • The till, the delivery apps and the bank never reconciled, so commissions and refunds disappear.
  • A second outlet opened on the first one's turnover, not on its profit.

What we deliver

  • Weekly cost-of-sales, wastage and labour-cost reporting per outlet, from your systems.
  • Outlet-level profitability, and a break-even for every new site before you sign the lease.
  • Menu and price engineering: margin by item, not by outlet.
  • Monthly accounts with the apps, tills and bank reconciled, and the VAT and excise points handled.
  • Payroll, gratuity and tips handled under the Labour Law, and franchisor reporting on time.
Logistics, shipping and freightMargin per shipment and working capital
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Industry

Logistics, shipping and freight

Margin per shipment and working capital

Margin per shipment, agent or principal, and which leg is international: three questions that decide the business.

The rules of the business

  • A lane that looks busy can lose money on every shipment, and monthly totals hide it.
  • Customs deposits, carrier credit and customer terms pull cash in three directions.
  • Agent or principal decides what revenue you show and what the bank thinks you are worth.
  • Tax points: international legs are zero-rated and local legs are not, and disbursements need the right paperwork.

What usually goes wrong

  • Profit measured per month, not per shipment, so loss-making lanes and customers are never seen.
  • Carrier statements, customs deposits and customer recharges never reconciled, so disputes are settled from memory.
  • Zero-rating stretched to the local delivery from the port to the warehouse.

What we deliver

  • Job costing: margin per shipment, per lane and per customer, monthly.
  • Working capital in one view: customs deposits, carrier credit and customer terms.
  • An agent-or-principal policy, written and applied in the billing system.
  • VAT mapped to every route and leg, and the free zone 0% test where it applies.
Manufacturing and industrialCosting, capacity and capital
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Industry

Manufacturing and industrial

Costing, capacity and capital

Cost is built from materials, labour and overhead, and the plant's real cost per unit is the number that runs the business.

The rules of the business

  • Standard costs age quickly; when they are wrong, every product margin is wrong in the same direction.
  • Capacity, yield and scrap decide the cost per unit more than the purchase price does.
  • Plant and machinery need financing with a payback the bank believes.
  • Tax points: large capital assets sit in the VAT capital assets scheme, and group sales abroad are priced at arm's length.

What usually goes wrong

  • Standard costs never updated, so the margin on every product is wrong in the same direction.
  • Capacity and scrap unmeasured, so the plant's real cost per unit is unknown.
  • Duty-exempt inputs diverted or unaccounted for, and the exemption at risk.

What we deliver

  • A costing system: overhead absorption, standard-cost updates and variance reporting.
  • Plant reporting: cost per unit, yield, scrap and capacity, monthly.
  • Investment appraisals and financing packs for plant and machinery.
  • Monthly accounts with stock valued properly, and the capital assets scheme and transfer pricing handled.
  • Customs and industrial licence records kept ready for inspection.

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