DMCC Approved Auditor: Audit Report for Licence Renewal

DMCC requires registered companies to have their annual financial statements audited by a firm on the DMCC approved auditor list, under the DMCC Company Regulations. The auditor's standing is tested at the date the report is signed, so a firm that has left the list between engagement and signature is a problem the company discovers late.

Under DMCC's audited financial statements submission guideline, the directors are responsible for preparing and approving the company's financial accounts, and the submission itself consists of two things: the audited financial statements, and the summary sheet signed and stamped by the auditor. The statements are prepared under IFRS, and the company's legal name, legal form and registration number must match the licence, with the period covered matching the financial year DMCC holds on record.

Audited financial statements are due within six months after the financial year end. For a company with a 31 December year end, that places the deadline at 30 June. The date runs from the year end, not from the licence expiry date, and the two are frequently different.

Six months is comfortable if the engagement starts early and tight if it does not. Bank confirmations are requested from the bank directly and the bank sets its own turnaround, so they determine the critical path more often than the fieldwork does.

The signed report and financial statements are uploaded through the DMCC member portal against the company's licence record, by the company or its approved auditor, rather than sent by email. The auditor's own registration with the zone is what allows the filing to be accepted, and the summary sheet must carry the auditor's signature and stamp.

DMCC may impose sanctions for non-submission. Those can include restriction or suspension of services, and fines or penalties determined by DMCCA from time to time. Because the amounts are set by the authority and revised, the current position should be confirmed with DMCC rather than assumed from an earlier year.

Addressing a likely delay before the deadline generally leaves the company more options than dealing with it after the date has passed.

A DMCC company's first financial year must be at least six months and no more than eighteen months. Subsequent financial years are normally twelve months, subject to the variation the regulations permit. A company that wants to change its financial year applies through the DMCC Member Portal, and the application is made before the current financial year ends rather than after it.

Assembling the set before fieldwork rather than during it is the single thing that most shortens a DMCC audit. Expect: the trade licence and any amendments; the memorandum and articles and the share register; the trial balance and general ledger for the year; bank statements for every account for the full period with the closing confirmations; the fixed asset register with additions and disposals; receivables and payables ageing; inventory counts where inventory is held; payroll summaries and end of service provision workings; the lease for the premises; loan and related party agreements; and the board minutes or resolution approving the accounts.

The sequence is: confirm the financial year and the deadline and issue the engagement letter; request the document set and the bank confirmations immediately, since those set the critical path; carry out fieldwork; issue the draft for director review; then the signed report, the signed and stamped summary sheet, and submission. Every engagement is led personally by Abdulrahman AlNuaimi.

AABDxb is licensed by the UAE Ministry of Economy under auditor licence number 948 and holds current approval as an external auditor at DMCC. For the position across the other zones the firm is approved in, and for what any authority checks on submission, see the licence renewal audit guide, the JAFZA, DAFZA, IFZA, RAKEZ and Ajman Free Zone pages, and the article on free zone audit requirements.