We prepare it. A registered auditor signs it
Audits run long and expensive for predictable reasons — none of which are the auditor's fault. Almost all of them are fixed before fieldwork begins, on your side of the table.
Neo Finance does not perform audits. Our licence is for the professional activity of Accounting & Bookkeeping (6920003), which expressly does not permit examining or auditing accounts — statutory audits in the UAE are performed by registered audit firms. What we do is everything on the other side of the table, which is where most of the cost, delay and pain of an audit actually comes from.
Why audits go badly, and what prevents it
An audit runs long and expensive for a predictable set of reasons: the books were not closed monthly, so the auditor is reconstructing rather than testing; reconciliations do not exist, so every balance is a request; supporting documents are scattered, so each sample takes days; there was no attended stock count, so inventory cannot be verified; and judgemental areas — provisions, leases, impairment — were never thought about, so they become negotiations in week three. Every one of those is preventable before fieldwork starts.
What we do
- Appoint the auditor — introduce and engage an independent UAE-registered audit firm appropriate to your size, sector and free zone, and negotiate the scope and fee.
- Prepare the audit file — the schedules, reconciliations and supporting documentation the auditor will request, assembled before they ask.
- Prepare the financial statements — under IFRS or IFRS for SMEs, with the notes drafted. See financial statements.
- Resolve the judgemental areas early — lease accounting, gratuity provisions, stock valuation and impairment, documented with a reasoned position rather than argued during fieldwork.
- Attend the stock count — planned, documented and reconciled. See stock and shrinkage.
- Handle the queries — we are the auditor's point of contact, so your team is not answering sampling requests instead of running the business.
- Close out — audit adjustments posted, management letter points turned into actual process changes for next year.
An audit is an independent opinion. The firm preparing your accounts should not be the firm auditing them, and keeping preparation and audit separate is what makes the opinion worth something to a bank, a regulator or a buyer. Our position — prepare thoroughly, appoint independently — is the structurally correct one rather than a limitation.
Reviewed 18 August 2026 by Ahmed Nabil Selim. UAE tax rates, thresholds and deadlines change — confirm the position for your period before relying on it.
Audit support — frequently asked questions
It depends on licence, structure and free zone. Mainland companies are generally required to have audited financial statements under the Commercial Companies Law, and a number of free zones — including several of the larger ones — require audited accounts as a condition of licence renewal. Separately, a Qualifying Free Zone Person must have audited financial statements to apply the 0% Corporate Tax rate on qualifying income. Some smaller free zone licences do not require an audit, though a bank or shareholder often will regardless.
No — our licence does not permit it. Neo Finance is licensed for Accounting & Bookkeeping under activity 6920003, which expressly excludes examining or auditing accounts, so we do not issue audit opinions. We prepare the financial statements and the audit file, appoint an independent UAE-registered auditor on your behalf, and manage the audit through to completion. Keeping preparation and audit in separate hands is what preserves the independence that makes the opinion useful.
Reduce the auditor's work. Fees are driven by hours, and hours are driven by how much reconstruction and chasing the audit requires. Monthly closing, complete reconciliations, an organised document trail, a properly conducted stock count and pre-agreed positions on judgemental areas can transform the effort required. The businesses paying the highest audit fees are almost always those whose records made the audit hardest, not those with the most complex operations.
Want a straight answer on your position?
Tell us about the business — licence, size, systems and where things currently stand. We will tell you what you are obliged to do and what it costs to have it handled.
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