Top 10 Accounting Services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

1 – Bookkeeping & Accounting Services

Bookkeeping and accounting services are the main elements required to put strong financial management systems. This service involves maintaining organized, consistent, and accurate financial records that support business decisions as well as compliance. Effective bookkeeping also makes tax filing easier and prepares the business for audits or financial reviews. Moreover, by outsourcing professional accounting services in Dubai and rest of the Emirates of the UAE, businesses can avoid costly mistakes, improve internal controls, and get better services at a substantially reduced cost. Below are some of the key tasks typically performed when you outsource your record keeping to a reliable bookkeeping and accounting service provider:

General Ledger Maintenance: Keeping the general ledger updated is an important part of recording business transactions and is the main source for a company’s financial statements. This includes keeping clear and current records of all business transactions and making sure that they are sorted and labeled correctly for financial reports.
Accounts Payable (AP): Managing the full cycle of supplier transactions from the invoice receipt to the payment to make sure that the transactions are on time and accurate.
Accounts Receivable (AR): Tracking the customer bills, especially those that are overdue, and following up to ensure payments are collected properly.
Bank Reconciliation: Checking the bank statements against the company’s records to spot any mistakes, unauthorized transactions, or accounting errors. Read one of our case studies on bank reconciliation to see how we resolved a complex issue.
Credit Card Reconciliation: Checking credit card purchases against the statements to make sure everything is correct and nothing is missing.
Fixed Asset Management: Keeping track of the assets that you bought for the business, noting their decrease in value over time, and updating a list that shows where they are, their value, and when they are sold or removed.
Payroll Bookkeeping: Accurately recording employee wages, deductions, employer contributions, and ensuring proper classification of payroll-related expenses.
Cash Flow Management: Monitoring cash movements, preparing cash flow forecasts, and advising on liquidity strategies to maintain financial health.
Inventory Bookkeeping: Keeping track of all inventory activities, making sure there is enough stock, and updating records for lost, damaged, or outdated items.
Petty Cash Management: Managing small cash expenses by keeping clear records, getting approval, and making sure everything adds up correctly.

2 – Tax Accounting

Tax accounting means filling out and submitting tax forms, following tax rules, and finding smart ways to reduce how much tax the business has to pay.

Corporate Tax Preparation: Corporate tax preparation involves organizing and filing a company’s financial records to meet tax obligations. It ensures accurate reporting of income, expenses, and compliance with tax laws.
VAT/GST Compliance: Registering for VAT, preparing VAT returns, reconciling VAT ledgers, and sending everything on time as required.
Withholding Tax: Calculating and remitting tax deductions on payments to suppliers, contractors, and foreign parties as required.
Tax Planning & Advisory: Structuring operations and transactions to achieve tax efficiency and reduce
Transfer Pricing Documentation: Preparing reports and documentation to justify pricing in intercompany transactions as well as comply with international tax rules.
Tax Audit Support: Tax audit support helps businesses handle audits by organizing records and dealing with tax authorities to resolve issues efficiently.

3 – Financial Accounting

Financial accounting makes sure the company follows legal reporting requirements and gives a clear and accurate picture of the company’s finances to everyone who needs to see it. It manly includes the following:

Chart of Accounts Setup: Designing a customized structure of accounts that aligns with the operational as well as reporting needs of the business.
Trial Balance Preparation: Collecting all general ledger balances at the end of an accounting period to ensure that debits are equal to the credits.
Adjusting Entries: Making accruals, deferrals, and other necessary adjustments to show the current financial position of the business.
Financial Statement Preparation: Drafting compliant and timely financial reports that reflect the business’s financial status, including income statement, balance sheet or statement of financial position, and cash flow statement.
IFRS/GAAP Compliance: Ensuring that accounting practices align with relevant accounting standards for accurate and standardized reporting.
Statutory External Audit: Once the year-end accounts are finalized, the final step is to complete the external audit of your company. This process includes initial audit planning meeting with auditors, providing management accounts, arranging the supporting documents for the transactions selected for audit verification, addressing audit queries, and recording audit adjusting entries (if required). Statutory audit is a time-consuming and complex process that requires a capable financial accounting team and a reliable and qualified audit firm. An incompetent and inexperienced auditor can jeopardize the entire audit process. To help you choose wisely, we have compiled a list of highly respected audit firms in Dubai based on their experience, qualification, reputation, staffing, and any specific qualities. Working with any of these firms should help you complete your audits smoothly and on time.

4 – Management Accounting

Management accounting focuses on delivering insights and financial analysis to support business planning, performance evaluation, and strategic decision-making.

Budgeting & Forecasting: Creating budgets that could help or be beneficial for company and financial forecasts to support strategic planning and performance tracking.
Costing: Looking at costs for each product, department, or task to help set better prices, cut waste, and make more profit.
Break-even Analysis: Determining the level of output or sales needed to cover total costs, providing a critical decision-making tool.
Variance Analysis: Investigating the reasons behind differences in budgeted vs actual figures to inform business decisions and corrective actions.
KPI & Dashboard Reporting: Developing key performance indicators and visual dashboards to help stakeholders monitor business health and trends.
Profit & Profitability: A common misunderstanding among many business owners is that profit and profitability mean the same thing, but they don’t. Profit is simply the result of revenue minus expenses whereas profitability measures how well you used the available resources to generate that profit. For example, could you reduce or eliminate some of the unnecessary expenses to increase your profit? That efficient use of resources is what defines profitability. Read our detailed guide on the differences between profit and profitability to clear up any doubts or misconceptions.

5 – Forensic Accounting

Forensic accounting means checking financial records carefully to find proof of fraud, legal issues, or rule-breaking, often to help in court cases or resolving disagreements.

Fraud Investigation: Conducting investigations into suspected financial fraud and preparing detailed reports for legal use.
Litigation Support: Providing financial expertise and analysis for use in civil and criminal litigation.
Dispute Resolution: Analyzing financial disputes, quantifying damages, and supporting settlement negotiations.
Asset Tracing: Finding and locating assets that might have been hidden or taken without permission.
Financial Irregularities Detection: Examining at data closely to find mistakes, problems, or signs of cheating.

6 – Backlog Accounting

Backlog accounting involves recording financial transactions that were missed or delayed in earlier accounting periods, ensuring financial records are complete and accurate.

Missed Entries Recording: Identifying and entering past-due invoices, expenses, and other financial transactions not previously recorded.
Bank & Ledger Reconciliation: Matching historical transactions with bank statements to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Tax Compliance Catch-Up: Updating records to meet VAT and tax filing requirements, avoiding penalties and interest.
Financial Reporting Correction: Generating accurate financial statements for previous periods to support audits and management decisions.
System Cleanup: Organizing and updating accounting software or ledgers to reflect true historical data.
Root Cause Identification: Analyzing reasons behind delays to implement systems that prevent future backlogs.

Backlog accounting helps businesses catch up on unrecorded transactions when they fall behind due to fast growth, staff changes, or other issues. Staying updated helps the business to stay on the right track, follow rules, and grow smoothly.

7 – Cryptocurrency Accounting

Cryptocurrency accounting means keeping track of buying, selling, and using digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. As more businesses and investors use crypto, it is important to record each and everything correctly for taxes, reports, and audits. Since crypto prices change a lot and are not controlled by one group, special tools and knowledge are needed to handle it properly.

Transaction Recording: Capturing all forms of crypto activity, including trades, purchases, staking rewards, mining income, airdrops, and token swaps.
Valuation & Cost Basis: Determining the fair market value and original acquisition cost of each asset to calculate capital gains or losses.
Tax Reporting & Compliance: Preparing reports that comply with local and international tax laws, including income tax, capital gains tax, and VAT (if applicable).
Wallet & Exchange Reconciliation: Verifying and reconciling transaction data from multiple wallets, exchanges, and DeFi platforms.
Multi-Token & Blockchain Tracking: Managing diverse crypto portfolios across different chains while factoring in gas fees, forks, and token conversions.
Integration with Accounting Systems: Syncing crypto transactions with ERP or bookkeeping systems using platforms like Koinly or CoinLedger.
Regulatory Monitoring: Adapting to evolving regulations and ensuring that financial disclosures meet audit and compliance standards.

8 – Outsourced CFO / Controller Services

These services give expert financial guidance without the need of hiring a full-time CFO and they are perfect to help businesses that are growing or changing.

Strategic Financial Guidance: Providing executive-level financial oversight, planning, and performance measurement.
Cash Flow Forecasting: Planning for future cash needs and spotting any possible areas where money can be saved.
Financial Health Reviews: Conducting financial assessments and ratio analyses to understand business performance.
Financial Modeling: Building dynamic financial models for fundraising, budgeting, pricing, or expansion analysis.

9 – Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Accounting

ESG accounting helps companies measure and report their environmental and social impact, supporting sustainability goals and regulatory compliance.

Carbon Footprint Accounting: Tracking the emissions of greenhouse gas across operations.
Sustainability Reporting: Preparing the reports based on international frameworks such as GRI or SASB.
ESG Metrics Integration: Incorporating ESG data into financial performance dashboards.

10 – Fund Accounting

Fund accounting is used by non-profit organizations, governments, and investment funds to properly track and manage both limited and general-use money.

Fund Segregation: Managing accounts separately for different funds or grants.
Grant Compliance: Keeping track of rules set by donors and creating reports for each grant.
Trust & Endowment Reporting: Ensuring transparency and compliance in long-term fund usage.

AUDIT – TAX – ADVISORY