What UAE businesses should keep in their accounting records

Most record-keeping problems are not caused by a lack of effort. They are caused by records living in too many places — invoices in email, receipts in a drawer, payments visible only on a bank statement, and nothing tying them together.

Here is what a UAE business should be able to produce on request, and what each item is actually for.

• Every sales invoice you issue, in sequence, with none missing from the numbering
• Credit notes, and the reason each one was issued
• Contracts or purchase orders behind significant revenue
• Records of income received that was not invoiced, such as interest or one-off receipts

Gaps in invoice numbering are one of the first things a reviewer looks for. If you void an invoice, keep the voided document rather than deleting it.

• Supplier invoices — the actual tax invoice, not just a payment confirmation
• Receipts for cash and card expenses, including small ones
• Rent, licence and utility documentation
• Staff cost records, including salary payments and end-of-service calculations

• Complete bank statements for every business account, for the full period
• Records of transfers between your own accounts, so they are not double-counted
• A cash book if the business handles physical cash
• Documentation for owner contributions and drawings, kept separate from business expenses

• A fixed asset register, listing what was bought, when, and for how much
• Loan and finance agreements, with repayment schedules
• Lease agreements
• Amounts owed to you and by you at each period end

In our experience the three most common gaps are supplier tax invoices for small purchases, documentation for transfers between the owner and the company, and the paperwork behind an asset purchase made two years ago. None are difficult to keep at the time. All are difficult to reconstruct later.

If your records are already behind, that is a solvable problem — it is one of the most common reasons businesses come to us in the first place.