Choose the audit or review service based on the question you need answered—from financial statements and internal controls to operations, systems, fraud concerns and inventory.
Professional audit and financial review support for businesses in Dubai and across the UAE.
The final fee depends on the type of audit or review, company size, transaction volume, number of locations or entities, quality of accounting records, reporting requirements, supporting documentation and the procedures required for the engagement.
Starting fees vary according to the engagement scope and the condition of the underlying records.
A company that needs an independent audit of its financial statements has a different requirement from a management team reviewing internal controls, a business investigating suspected irregularities or an organisation assessing IT access and change controls.
The first step is therefore to identify who needs the report, what decision it will support and whether the assignment requires a formal assurance opinion or a management-focused review.
UAE legislation regulates the auditing profession and maintains registers for auditors and audit firms. Formal statutory or financial-statement audit work must be carried out within the applicable licensing, registration, independence and sector requirements.
Independent financial-statement audit where the applicable legal and professional requirements are satisfied.
Risk-based review of governance, finance, compliance, operations and other internal processes.
Focused testing of control design, ownership, approvals, reconciliations and evidence.
Review of process design, handoffs, controls, efficiency and performance information.
Review of user access, change management, applications, interfaces, backups and IT control processes.
Targeted financial analysis where a suspected irregularity or unexplained transaction pattern requires investigation.
Focused review of inventory records, counts, movements, cut-off and related controls.
Review against a defined policy, contractual, regulatory or internal-compliance framework.
Preparation and readiness support for ICV-related documentation without representing the service as the certifying authority.
| Your requirement | Recommended service |
|---|---|
| Need an independent financial-statement audit? | External Audit Services → |
| Want to review governance and internal controls? | Internal Audit Services → |
| Need focused testing of finance or approval controls? | Internal Control Audit → |
| Need to identify process weakness or inefficiency? | Operational Audit → |
| Need to review ERP, access or technology controls? | Information System Audit → |
| Investigating suspected financial irregularities? | Fraud Examination → |
| Need focused testing of inventory records or counts? | Stock Audit → |
Where a company needs an external or statutory audit, management can reduce avoidable delays by completing the books and supporting schedules before the auditor begins fieldwork.
Common readiness areas include bank reconciliations, receivable/payable ageing, fixed assets, inventory support, tax schedules, related-party information and draft financial statements.
A control review can look at how transactions are initiated, approved, recorded, reconciled and monitored. The objective is to understand whether the process has a clear owner, whether duties are appropriately separated and whether evidence shows the control actually occurred.
| Control area | Example question |
|---|---|
| Payments | Can one person create a supplier, change bank details and release a payment? |
| Revenue | Are customer creation, pricing, invoicing and credit notes subject to appropriate review? |
| Reconciliations | Are bank and control accounts reconciled and independently reviewed? |
| Journals | Are manual journals supported, approved and reviewed for unusual entries? |
| Access | Do system permissions match job responsibilities and current employees? |
An external audit opinion, an internal audit report, a factual findings report and a management review are not interchangeable.
Before work begins, the engagement should identify the intended user, scope, reporting format, applicable professional framework and any independence or licensing requirements.
Independent assurance over financial statements under the applicable audit framework and professional authority.
Management/governance review of risks, controls and processes rather than a statutory financial-statement opinion.
Focused assessment of a process, system or control environment against an agreed objective.
Targeted investigation and financial analysis where specific concerns or transactions require review.
Confirm objective, users, scope, period and required report.
Collect the records, policies, system evidence and data relevant to the scope.
Perform the procedures appropriate to the engagement.
Validate factual findings and obtain management responses where relevant.
Issue the agreed report, findings or recommendations.
Bank, receivable, payable or tax balances do not agree to supporting schedules.
Invoices, contracts, approvals or other evidence cannot be located when requested.
Stock records, physical counts and accounting values have not been reconciled.
The trial balance changes repeatedly because the month/year-end close is not complete.
Group transactions or balances are not identified and reconciled.
User access, audit trails or change history do not support the required control review.
VAT and Corporate Tax audit-readiness work is different from a financial-statement audit. The Federal Tax Authority carries out official Tax Audits under the UAE Tax Procedures framework.
ZeroSync can support reconciliation, record organisation and responses through the relevant tax-audit support service.
Different audit and review services require different records, but the underlying principle is the same: the evidence should allow the reviewer to trace a balance, transaction, control or process from the report back to its source.
Vendor onboarding, purchase approval, invoice processing, payments and supplier master-data controls.
Customer setup, credit, invoicing, collections, credit notes and revenue-related controls.
Employee changes, payroll input, approval, payment and finance reconciliation.
Purchasing, receiving, movement, count, write-off, cut-off and valuation processes.
User lifecycle, privileged access, system changes, interfaces and backup/recovery controls.
Delegation, conflicts, management reporting, policy ownership and escalation.
A formal external audit report is not the same as an internal audit findings report, a stock-count report or a fraud-examination memorandum. The procedures, users and conclusion differ.
For that reason, the engagement letter or agreed scope should state the objective, period, locations, systems, limitations, report users and whether the work is assurance, advisory, internal audit or another form of review.
| Engagement | Typical output |
|---|---|
| External audit | Auditor's report on financial statements under the applicable assurance framework. |
| Internal audit | Findings, risk ratings, root causes, management responses and agreed actions. |
| Operational audit | Process findings, control gaps and improvement opportunities. |
| IT audit | Technology-control findings and remediation actions. |
| Fraud examination | Evidence-based findings focused on the specific suspected transactions or events. |
UAE commercial-company and auditing-profession rules impose professional requirements for auditors. Certain regulated entities can also have additional auditor accreditation requirements imposed by their sector regulator.
Before a statutory or regulated external audit is accepted, the company should confirm the legal form, licensing authority, sector and the auditor eligibility required for that engagement.
A good audit plan begins by confirming the required auditor and reporting framework, rather than discovering at the end that the completed work cannot satisfy the authority or stakeholder that requested the audit.
The service family includes external audit, internal audit, internal-control audit, compliance audit, operational audit, information-system audit, fraud examination, stock audit and related readiness or review work.
Formal audit work is subject to UAE professional licensing and registration requirements. The applicable company, authority and sector requirements should be confirmed for the engagement.
External financial-statement audit focuses on an independent opinion on financial statements. Internal audit is a management and governance function that reviews risks, processes, controls and other areas within an agreed scope.
No. Official tax audits are carried out by the Federal Tax Authority. A business can obtain readiness and response support, but the FTA controls the official tax audit.
The request depends on the engagement but can include financial statements, trial balance, general ledger, reconciliations, contracts, invoices, payroll, fixed assets, inventory and relevant policies or system records.
No. Different engagements use different procedures and objectives. The scope and assurance level, where applicable, should be explained in the engagement terms.
Tell us what needs to be reviewed, who needs the report and whether a formal audit opinion is required. We can help identify the appropriate service route.
