Meydan Free Zone, Dubai: Accounting and Audit Preparation Guide

After incorporation: build the financial records

For a business established in Meydan Free Zone, Dubai, the first invoices and payments are the beginning of its accounting history. A licence, a bank account and a folder of receipts do not by themselves create a usable set of accounts. Decide who maintains the ledger, where evidence is stored and who reviews it before the first year-end arrives.

This guide explains practical preparation for owner-managed, service and trading businesses: what to record, how to organise the year-end file and how to coordinate accounting, audit and tax responsibilities.

Meydan audit requirements and professional services

Write a short reporting brief

List the legal entity, licence details, reporting period, business activities and intended recipient. Attach any authority notice or bank request. Identify the date the report is needed and distinguish it from the deadline for providing records to the accountant or auditor.

Meydan’s company regulations set a 30-day response period for audited statements when requested by the authority. Review the actual notice and current instructions. Do not assume that the company’s licence renewal date is the same as its financial year-end or tax deadline.

• Confirm the period covered by the previous accounts and explain any change of year-end.
• Name the management contact responsible for answering accounting questions.
• Agree who approves adjustments, signs the statements and completes each submission.

Separate company money from owner funding

A founder may pay incorporation costs or a supplier invoice personally before the company account is ready. Record the transaction with its supporting invoice and evidence of payment. Explain whether the amount is capital, a shareholder loan or an expense reimbursement; do not automatically classify money introduced by the owner as customer revenue.

Maintain a schedule of amounts due to or from each shareholder and director. Reconcile it regularly, retain relevant agreements and investigate personal expenditure passing through company accounts. Clear explanations at the time are more reliable than reconstructing a year of transfers from memory.

Reconcile online sales beyond the bank receipt

For e-commerce or digital businesses, a payment-platform deposit may combine several orders after refunds, charges and amounts held back. Export the underlying transaction report, settlement statement and outstanding-balance information before access to older data becomes difficult.

For example, orders totalling AED 20,000, less AED 1,000 of refunds and AED 600 of platform charges, produce AED 18,400 before any other adjustments or retained amounts. Match those components to the statement and bank receipt. This is an illustrative reconciliation, not a prescribed revenue or VAT treatment; the contracts, taxes and accounting framework must also be considered.

• Keep order and invoice references that can be matched across systems.
• Explain foreign-currency conversion, settlement timing and balances still held by the platform.
• Separate platform fees and refunds in the reconciliation instead of assuming every bank deposit is a complete sales record.

Prepare schedules that agree to the trial balance

Use one clearly identified closing trial balance and attach a supporting schedule for each material account. If a schedule does not agree to the ledger, investigate the difference before sending multiple versions to the audit team.

• Banking: all statements, reconciliations, facilities and explanations for old outstanding items.
• Customers: contracts, invoices, ageing, advances, delivery or service evidence and receipts after year-end.
• Suppliers and costs: payable ageing, invoices, unpaid expenses, prepayments and significant contracts.
• Assets and stock: asset register, additions and disposals, inventory quantities, valuation workings and records for goods held elsewhere.
• Employees: payroll, employment records, leave and benefit workings with a consistent calculation basis.
• Related parties and tax: group agreements, balance confirmations, tax records and reconciliations to the accounts.

Deal with incomplete records openly

Prepare an issue log showing the account, missing item, owner and next action. Missing supplier invoices, unreconciled payments and unexplained opening balances usually need accounting work before an audit can progress efficiently. Request replacement records from the appropriate source and retain the trail of correspondence.

Do not remove a balance merely because support is difficult to obtain. Explain uncertainty and the basis of any estimate. The auditor independently evaluates whether the available evidence is sufficient and how unresolved matters affect the report.

Connect the accounts with tax and group reporting

Use the approved accounting figures as the starting point for tax work, with a documented reconciliation for adjustments. A free-zone licence is not a substitute for assessing the company’s actual tax status. Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 includes a separate audited-statement requirement for Qualifying Free Zone Persons.

Corporate tax assessment and reporting support

Where the company pays or receives group charges, retain the agreement, calculation and evidence of the underlying activity. Explain the allocation method and identify the parties involved. Transfer pricing analysis should address the actual transaction, not simply attach a generic benchmark to an unsupported expense.

Transfer pricing and benchmarking services

Approve and retain a consistent reporting pack

Before approval, reconcile the final statements to the closing trial balance and agreed adjustment list. Confirm that the legal name, period and signatories are correct. Where several advisers are involved, circulate the approved figures and explain changes that affect another workstream.

Retain the signed accounts, auditor’s report, final schedules and submission confirmation together. Agree how subsequent queries will be handled. Avoid making untracked changes to an already approved set of statements.

Professional support for your Meydan company

SAIF Chartered Accountants provides accounting, audit and related tax support for Meydan businesses. Share the licence, reporting period, trial balance and required date so the team can assess scope and record readiness. Preparation and independent assurance are distinct services, with management responsibilities and independence considered before appointment.

Discuss your Meydan reporting requirements