DHCC Healthcare Audit Preparation Checklist

A healthcare audit file should explain how services, billing, claims and collections become financial-statement balances. This checklist helps DHCC finance teams organise that evidence without unnecessarily sharing patient medical information. It concerns financial audit, not clinical audit or a review of the quality of care.

Confirm the reporting period and renewal requirements

DHCA Rule No. 1 of 2025, clause 3.18, requires licensees to prepare and retain audited accounts and provide them when requested. The official ROC Client Handbook includes audited statements in commercial-renewal checklists for FZ-LLCs and branches. Confirm the current request, reporting period and documents for the actual entity.

Maintain a calendar of financial close, auditor appointment, fieldwork, management approval and submission dates. Do not assume the administrative turnaround for licence renewal is the time required to complete an audit.

Build a controlled finance file

• Licence, ownership and incorporation records, appointment documents, prior accounts and renewal correspondence.
• Final trial balance, general ledger and reconciliations for banks, payment gateways, petty cash, receivables and payables.
• Billing reports, payer agreements, claims ageing, remittances, credit notes and subsequent receipts.
• Clinician contracts, payroll, professional-fee workings and employee-benefit schedules.
• Stock records, medical equipment register, leases, tax workings and related-party agreements.

Give each schedule a period, owner and ledger reference. Explain differences between the practice-management or hospital-information system and the accounting system. Keep proposed audit adjustments in a single tracker, showing management approval and posting references.

Reconcile insurance receivables by status

Separate submitted, rejected, resubmitted, disputed, partially paid and settled claims. Trace payer remittances to the underlying claims and bank receipts. A total receivables figure without status information may hide deductions, timing differences or balances that management cannot support.

Retain evidence of later collection and document the reasoning for recoverability estimates. Explain the cause of large credit notes or adjustments. Distinguish contractual deductions from payment delays; the correct treatment depends on the facts and applicable accounting framework.

Prepare patient deposits and package balances

For multi-session packages, reconcile opening unused services, new purchases, sessions delivered, refunds and remaining obligations. Link the calculations to contractual terms and delivery records. Payment received before treatment is not automatically revenue earned.

Example: a customer pays for ten sessions but only four have been delivered by year-end. The finance team should retain the package terms and delivery record and assess the remaining obligation. It should not recognise the entire receipt simply because cash arrived. The precise calculation depends on the contract and applicable accounting requirements.

Support clinician fees, inventory and equipment

Professional-fee calculations should identify the contractual basis, eligible activity, exclusions, adjustments and unpaid accrual. Reconcile approvals and payments, and separately identify related-party arrangements. Avoid using an unexplained percentage of total turnover for every clinician.

Plan inventory counts before year-end. Identify expiry dates, damaged items, slow-moving supplies and consignment stock. Keep evidence of ownership and separate customer or supplier property. Reconcile quantities and valuation to the ledger.

Maintain an equipment register supported by purchase documents, commissioning information, finance or lease agreements and disposals. Explain material maintenance expenditure, depreciation assumptions and possible impairment indicators. Financial audit does not certify whether medical equipment is clinically safe.

Share evidence securely and proportionately

Begin with financial schedules and transaction identifiers that avoid unnecessary personal data. Agree authorised access and secure transmission for any detailed evidence that is genuinely required. Do not email patient medical histories with a quotation request or upload them through a general website contact form.

Assign a records coordinator who can distinguish finance evidence from clinical records and route sensitive requests appropriately. Agree access controls and retention arrangements for the engagement rather than giving unrestricted access by default.

Coordinate tax and group reporting

Reconcile tax calculations to the approved accounts and retain explanations of adjustments. A free-zone address or healthcare activity label does not determine every Corporate tax or VAT outcome. Review actual revenue streams, counterparties and transactions with the tax adviser.

For related-party management, equipment, brand, financing or professional services, keep agreements, allocation workings and evidence supporting the charge. Transfer-pricing benchmarking should match the actual transaction and the functions, assets and risks of the parties.

Complete the reporting pack

Track missing evidence, third-party confirmations, estimates, disclosures and approvals before signing. Confirm whether the scope includes authority upload assistance, a management letter or group schedules. Retain the final signed pack and submission confirmation together.

SAIF Chartered Accountants can discuss a financial audit and separately scoped accounting or tax support. Share the company licence, financial year, trial balance, prior report and required date to begin. Any accounting assistance alongside audit must first be assessed for independence.

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