When it comes to signing with an accounting provider, most small business owners in Dubai have two questions: what exactly does it include, and how much should it cost given the size of a business? Both questions are difficult to answer in a way that’s as accurate as it could be, as packages are marketed in marketing terms, not in terms of the actual tasks that a small business needs addressed month to month.

This guide demystifies accounting services for small business in Dubai, what should be covered, the timeline of the services throughout the year and a typical pricing breakdown — so a founder can compare a quote to a clear baseline, not a sales pitch.

What’s included in accounting services for small business in Dubai

A package for a small business should be a whole package and not a set of pieces all added on and priced separately to be delivered separately.

• Bookkeeping. All monthly recorded and reconciled transactions or bank payments or receipts (not just the annual throwaway at the end of the year).
• VAT at the threshold. Once registrations have been made for taxable supplies and imports are made above the threshold, it is followed by the quarterly or monthly return filing.
• Registration and filing of Corporate Tax. Registration is compulsory, even if a business is not profitable and the return itself is submitted within 9 months of the end of the business’ tax period.
• Payroll for as few as one or two employees.The calculation of the end-of-service benefits, which is difficult to get right without a dedicated process even on a small payroll, and salary processing via the Wage Protection System (WPS).

A compliance calendar for a small business in its first year

Small business owners are most likely doing this themselves before hiring a provider, and so it is best to look at the work in a manner that shows how frequently it actually occurs rather than lumping it into one big list.

• Monthly. Bookkeeping and bank reconciliation; payroll and WPS processing (if the business has employees); filing VAT returns (for businesses on monthly filing cycle).
• Quarterly. Filing VAT returns – for businesses on the more familiar quarterly cycle; a management review of profitability and cash position.
• Annually. Registration under Corporate Tax (once when becoming a taxable person) and filing of Corporate Tax return filing within 9 months of the end of the tax period, renewal of Trade Licence and preparation of Financial Statements for the audit.

One provider that appears at the annual stage is building the business up on a tight time timetable, which is the number one contributor to a small business bookkeeping backlog clean-up later in the year.

What accounting services for a small business actually cost in Dubai

The pricing of this market tends to be based on amount of transactions as opposed to the number of employees or office size. In terms of a market reference, movingo’s small business packages are offered as three tiers: entry package of AED 500 per month for 10 transactions, mid-tier package of AED 1,400 per month for 50 transactions, and a fuller package of AED 4,000 per month for 100 transactions, each increment of transactions beyond a tier’s allowance costing AED 40 per transaction.

The things that typically propel a business from one level to the next are not sales growth alone, but an increase in sub-components of the sales, such as more bank transactions, more invoices, VAT activity, payroll for a growing team etc. A business with a small amount of revenue could be in a higher tier than that of a business with high revenue but fewer, higher volume transactions, due to low volume of transactions versus the amount of revenue.

Signs your small business has outgrown its current accounting package

Some indicators seem to emerge before a company understands it must upgrade to a higher tier or switch to a new company provider.

Bookkeeping begins to roll in later and later every month, due to the increased volume of transactions that the current package was designed for a specific price range. Answers to VAT or Corporate Tax questions are given as a ‘blanket’ response, not specific to the business’ numbers. The business has adopted one or two employees and payroll is not yet being done on a monthly basis, instead it’s done as an afterthought. Or the business has launched a second channel or platform and the internal bookkeeping system wasn’t designed to handle multiple sources of transactions.

Common accounting mistakes small businesses make in year one

The most common patterns that cause small businesses to have compliance issues early are few in number. Invoices and receipts are often kept in digital format and this can be a problem if the FTA calls for them as proof of support at any stage of a review. The details of trade licences changed with the authority concerned but do not appear in the accounting records of the business making it a mismatch at audit or renewal. The reason for skipping WPS for the first employee or two is because it is assumed to only begin once they get to a bigger employee base; however, it typically starts from the first salaried employee. In other words, unlike Corporate Tax, when a business registers it has already become a taxable entity while Registering and the issue of tax liability are different matters.

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Frequently asked questions

• What transaction volume should a new small business expect to need? This will rely heavily on the business model — for a service business that bills a few clients every month, this won’t be anywhere near as many transactions as a retail, or e-commerce business that sells thousands of products online each day. Most of the small businesses that begin out are put with an entry level package and then upgraded later as the volume of their business increases.

• Even if a small business has low revenue, it needs to get the Corporate Tax registration? Yes. Registration must be obtained regardless of the level of profit or revenue, even if the rate works out to be 0% less than the AED 375,000 limit or where Small Business Relief has been opted for.

• Does a small business accounting package cover payroll or does it have an additional cost? Movingo’s small business packages include payroll and WPS processing, which is not always the case with other providers.

• What is the time it takes for a small business to switch from one package to another? Most providers can make updates when their transaction volumes shift, without having to renegotiate a new contract – in the case of movingo, they review transaction volume with their clients on a periodic basis, and adjust the tier, not leaving a business paying more or less than what they are receiving.

What is possible to evaluate is not the general promise of accounting services for a small business in Dubai, but the amount of transaction-based services that are included in the price of an accountant service, and the same approach is applied to all three pricing tiers starting from AED 500 per month, where one accountant and account manager service is assigned per client.