IFZA registered companies have their annual financial statements audited by a firm on the IFZA approved list. Financial statements are required during the licence renewal process, and the company has a three month preparation period after the financial year end. AABDxb holds current approval as an external auditor at IFZA and is licensed by the UAE Ministry of Economy under auditor licence number 948.
IFZA registered companies have their annual financial statements audited by a firm on the IFZA approved auditor list. 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.
The statements are prepared under IFRS. Preparing them is the company's responsibility and the auditor's role is to express an opinion on them, so the ledger needs to be closed and reconciled before fieldwork starts. The legal name and registration number on the statements must match the licence, and the period covered must match the financial year IFZA holds on record.
IFZA allows a three month preparation period after the financial year end. For a company with a 31 December year end, that puts the audited statements in hand by the end of March.
Three months is a short window, and it is short in a way that rewards starting early. 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.
Financial statements are required during the IFZA licence renewal process. The audit is therefore not a filing the company can leave until the renewal is behind it: the statements form part of what the renewal itself calls for.
The practical consequence is scheduling. A company whose financial year end and licence expiry fall close together has to run the audit and the renewal on overlapping timetables, and the audit is the slower of the two because it depends on third parties. Working backwards from the renewal date, rather than forwards from the year end, shows early whether the timetable holds.
The signed report and the audited financial statements are provided to IFZA against the company's licence record. The submission route, and the access it requires, sit with the company's authorised signatory, and both are worth confirming with IFZA at the start of the engagement rather than in the last week before renewal. The auditor's approval with the zone is what allows the filing to be accepted.
Assembling the set before fieldwork rather than during it is what most protects the date. 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 resolution approving the accounts.
The same audited financial statements can also carry the company's corporate tax position, and the obligation there has two separate limbs. A Qualifying Free Zone Person must prepare and maintain audited financial statements to satisfy the conditions applicable to Qualifying Free Zone Person status, regardless of revenue. Any other Taxable Person that is not a Tax Group must do so where its revenue exceeds AED 50 million in the tax period, under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025.
The sequence is: confirm the financial year, the preparation period and the licence expiry date, 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 management review; then the signed report and the filing. 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 IFZA. For the position across the other zones the firm is approved in, see the licence renewal audit guide, the DMCC, JAFZA, DAFZA, RAKEZ and Ajman Free Zone pages, and the article on free zone audit requirements.
IFZA registered companies have their annual financial statements audited by a firm on the IFZA approved auditor list, and financial statements are required during the licence renewal process. The audit is therefore part of the company's annual cycle rather than something raised only if the zone asks for it.
A three month preparation period after the financial year end. A company with a 31 December year end therefore has its statements in hand by the end of March. Three months is a short window, so the engagement and the bank confirmations both need to start in the first weeks of it.
Yes. Financial statements are required during the IFZA licence renewal process, so the audit cannot be left until after the renewal. Where the financial year end and the licence expiry fall close together the two timetables overlap, and the audit is the slower of them because it depends on third parties.
No. The firm has to be on the IFZA approved auditor list at the date the report is signed. A Ministry of Economy licence alone is not enough, and the list is revised, so a firm approved in a previous year is not necessarily approved now. Confirm current standing before signing the engagement letter.
The trade licence and any amendments, the memorandum and articles and the share register, the trial balance and general ledger, bank statements for every account for the full period with the closing confirmations, the fixed asset register, receivables and payables ageing, inventory counts where inventory is held, payroll and end of service workings, the lease, loan and related party agreements, and the resolution approving the accounts.
There are two separate limbs. A Qualifying Free Zone Person must prepare and maintain audited financial statements to satisfy the conditions applicable to Qualifying Free Zone Person status, regardless of revenue. Any other Taxable Person that is not a Tax Group must do so where its revenue exceeds AED 50 million in the tax period, under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025. The same audited financial statements may also support corporate tax compliance, subject to the requirements applicable to the entity and the relevant free zone.
AABDxb holds current approval as an external auditor at IFZA and is licensed by the UAE Ministry of Economy (Licence 948).