Start with the work your business needs
Tell each firm which company it will support, where it is registered and what it sells. Include separate entities that need their own records.
Describe the transactions behind the business: customer invoices, supplier bills, currencies, bank accounts and payment channels. Give an approximate volume and flag complications such as stock, overseas sales or several branches. Add employee numbers if payroll support is needed. Explain which accounting software you use and whether documents are organised, incomplete or still held by a previous provider.
Separate the backlog from the continuing work.
A firm may need to repair older records before it can prepare useful current reports. Request a separate scope for that work, including what it will check and how it will report missing information.
Define the outputs you need to run the company. You might want to understand profit, see overdue customer payments or prepare year-end accounts. List any tax, payroll or audit support needed alongside routine bookkeeping, which means recording the company's transactions.
Which responsibilities will stay with your team?
Name the person who supplies invoices and bank statements, the person who checks information and the person who authorises payments. Tell the firm which business decisions require your approval, rather than leaving it to guess.
Give one colleague responsibility for the relationship, including collecting answers from other departments. Then send the same requirements to every shortlisted firm.
Verify the firm and the people doing the work
Ask for the legal name of the business you will contract with.
Obtain its current business licence and licensed activity, then check the proposed work with the relevant issuing authority. The Invest in Dubai licence search accepts a licence number, Dubai Unified Licence number or business name. For a free-zone entity, use its own authority's verification route. Match the entity on the proposal to the licence rather than relying on a familiar trading name.
Find out who will prepare your accounts and who will review them. Ask about experience with your business activity, accounting software and jurisdiction. Request details you can verify for any professional qualification claimed, and ask how the team would handle a transaction typical of your company.
Do you need registered tax-agent representation?
Clarify what “tax support” means in the proposal. It could mean preparing figures, giving advice or acting as your appointed tax agent. The Federal Tax Authority explains that taxable persons can file Corporate Tax returns directly through EmaraTax or seek registered-agent assistance. Using an agent is therefore a choice to discuss, rather than an automatic requirement for every bookkeeping engagement.
If the firm proposes registered representation, identify the agent and associated firm. Check the name and Tax Agent Approval Number in the FTA's Registered Tax Agents register, then confirm the appointment and relevant tax role.
The FTA's registration procedures distinguish individual and corporate tax agents and their required links. Ask who will actually represent you and how that person relates to the firm in your contract. A registered name should lead to a clear explanation of the proposed arrangement.
Will the business need a statutory auditor?
If an audit is needed, confirm the requirement with your company's regulator or authority and check the proposed auditor's relevant registration or approval. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism provides separate auditing practice registration and licensing services. DMCC businesses can also consult the DMCC compliance resources for its approved-auditor list and rules.
Request relevant references where available, without asking for confidential client records. Pause if the firm cannot explain its identity, name the responsible team or support a specialist approval it claims.
Agree what the accounting engagement includes
Turn broad service names into tasks. Ask whether routine accounting includes recording transactions, checking bank balances against the books, reviewing unexplained differences and producing the agreed reports. That bank-to-books check is usually called reconciliation.
Specify whether older records will be brought up to date within the fee or under a separate assignment.
Who performs the specialist work?
Where needed, ask about tax registration, advice and returns, payroll processing, audit coordination and restoring missing records. If the proposal mentions WPS, ask what payment work it covers under the Wage Protection System. Identify who prepares, reviews and submits each task. Audit coordination might involve preparing records for a separate auditor; ask who is appointed to carry out the audit itself.
Write down the exclusions.
Check limits on transactions and entities, extra returns, specialist advice and work caused by late or incomplete documents. An exclusion may be reasonable, but you need to know who will handle that work and what it costs.
Who supplies and approves the information?
Agree who provides documents, answers queries, approves figures and authorises submissions or payments. For Corporate Tax, the FTA requires taxable and exempt persons to retain the relevant supporting or status records for at least seven years after the related tax period ends. Ask how your arrangement will keep those records available to the business.
For each hand-off, name the person acting and the information required. “The accountant handles everything” leaves too many questions unanswered.
Ask what you will receive each month
Ask to see an anonymised example of the proposed reporting.
A profit and loss report shows income and costs over a period. A balance sheet shows what the company owns and owes at a date. Customer and supplier balance reports show money due in and out. Ask which reports will answer your questions, and what cash information will help you plan payments. Agree the useful package for your business.
Ask the firm to explain a change in the sample. Could you use its explanation to make a decision?
How will the month close?
Agree when documents must arrive, how missing items are followed up and when bank balances are reconciled and reviewed. Set a reporting date and clarify what “ready” means if some information remains outstanding.
Confirm how late inputs affect the timetable and who tells you about a revised date. The schedule should show responsibilities on both sides.
Who answers questions and resolves discrepancies?
Confirm your main contact, the reviewer and cover during absences. Ask how urgent questions are handled and whom you contact if an issue remains unresolved or a deadline is approaching.
Use a practical question: “What happens if a bank payment has no matching invoice?” Look for an explanation of how the firm flags it, asks your team for evidence and records any correction. Agree how unresolved items stay visible, rather than accepting a general promise of accuracy.
Keep access to your records and plan the handover
Confirm who owns the software account or subscription and how your business can access its books and documents. Ask to see what you can view, download and export before choosing the system.
Agree staff permissions, secure document sharing, backups and export formats that another accountant can use. Keep document access separate from payment authorisation.
Ask who can see confidential information, how access changes when staff leave and what confidentiality terms apply. A software name alone does not explain how your records will be handled.
What must transfer when you start or switch?
List opening balances, completed reconciliations, supporting documents, reporting history and outstanding tax matters. Agree what your team obtains from the departing provider and what the incoming firm checks. If a balance cannot be explained or a document is missing, name the person responsible for investigating it and agreeing the next action.
Put notice periods, record delivery, access changes, unfinished work and transition charges in writing. Ask for the same arrangements at the end of the new engagement.
Does your invoicing process need preparation?
If e-invoicing preparation is relevant to your business, ask how the firm will assess your accounting software and wider business system, and who will coordinate with an accredited e-invoicing provider.
EFIX's e-invoicing explainer describes its readiness consultation and provider-selection assistance. Discuss that support separately from the ongoing accounting scope.
Compare fees and engagement terms on the same basis
Compare quotations against the same requirements.
Check the recurring fee alongside set-up, historical clean-up, software and any specialist work you need. Confirm transaction and entity limits, audit coordination where relevant and applicable extra charges. Ask whether VAT is included or added where applicable. Keep each answer beside the task it covers.
Copy this comparison sheet for each proposal and fill it from the firm's written answers.
- Routine work and reportsIncluded tasks, report names and reporting dates
- Document collectionCut-off, missing-item follow-up and effect of late records
- Tax, payroll or other specialist workIncluded work, responsible person and separate charges
- Set-up and historical clean-upScope, completion criteria and one-off fee
- Volume, entities and softwareLimits, subscription costs and price-change rules
- Recurring fee and extrasFee, VAT treatment and approval before extra work
- CommunicationContact, reviewer, cover and escalation route
- Access and exitExports, notice, outstanding work and handover charges
If one quotation excludes clean-up and another includes it, request the missing scope before comparing totals. A lower price alone does not prove poor quality; it may cover different work.
What will change the price?
Ask how additional transactions, late records, extra reports and changes in scope are charged. Agree who approves extra work and how the firm will explain the charge before proceeding.
Compare the total agreed cost for the same business scenario, including one-off work. Keep assumptions beside the figures.
What must be settled before you sign?
Include confidentiality, record access and exit handover in the written engagement. Read it against your comparison sheet and resolve any difference between the sales discussion and the document.
- deliverables
- dates
- responsibilities
- approval and submission arrangements
- contacts
- fees
- exclusions
- vague outputs
- unexplained exclusions
- unverifiable specialist claims
- inaccessible records
- guaranteed outcomes
Can you appoint a firm if some answers are still pending?
Separate questions that affect the purchase from details you can agree during onboarding. Unresolved fees, specialist authority, deliverables or access to records affect the decision itself. Ask for written clarification before signing. If a minor operational detail will be settled later, identify who will settle it and record that arrangement.
Discuss your requirements with EFIX GRP
EFIX advertises financial reporting, full accounting management and record restoration, alongside tax and payment-related support. Discuss the services relevant to your company, apply the same suitability checks and confirm scope, costs and working arrangements in writing.
Send your business requirements, the condition of your records and the reports you need through EFIX GRP's accounting service page. Request a defined scope and quotation.
