KIZAD Audit Readiness and Compliance

What slows down a KIZAD company year-end

• Authority rules for KIZAD. KIZAD sets its own licence renewal and reporting requirements, so confirm what your authority asks for and keep records aligned with it.
• Keeping your free zone tax status. Qualifying status is not automatic. It depends on income type, substance in the UAE and audited statements, so the records must show it.
• Income tagging from day one. Coding income by type as it is booked is much easier than untangling it after the year closes.
• Mainland and overseas clients. Where your customers are located matters, so keep client details and service descriptions on every invoice.

Stock, landed cost and production records

Industrial and logistics companies in KIZAD hold raw materials, work in progress and finished goods. Keep each as its own stock category and value it on a consistent basis. For imported material, add freight, insurance, customs and port handling to the purchase price. The cost recorded is then the true cost of getting the goods to your plant.

Production reports should show quantities consumed, units produced and scrap. When those figures agree to the stock ledger each month, year-end stock valuation is a simple extension of routine work.

Plant, equipment and capital projects

Machinery and building works are major items. Record each asset with its invoice, delivery and commissioning date, and keep the maintenance contract with it. Costs for a project still under construction should sit in a capital work in progress schedule. Only when the asset is ready for use should depreciation start.

Separate repairs from improvements and note the reason on each invoice. Where an asset is used by two business lines, record the basis for sharing its cost. Keep warranties and service manuals for major machines in the same folder as the purchase invoice.

Logistics and warehousing revenue

Logistics income depends on volumes, space and time, all of which should be provable from operational records. Use these checks to tie revenue back to activity. Agree the figures to the month-end ledger before anyone outside sees them.

• Reconcile storage and handling revenue to occupancy or throughput reports.
• Keep delivery proof, such as signed gate passes and waybills, with each invoice.
• List customer deposits and handle them as liabilities until earned.
• Review fuel, driver and vehicle costs per route or contract.
• Check month-end cut-off for services performed but not yet billed.

Paperwork that answers questions

• Licence, lease and shareholder documents
• Revenue analysis split by qualifying and non-qualifying income
• Bank reconciliations at year-end
• Contracts supporting major income and cost items
• Fixed asset register and depreciation workings
• Evidence of staff, premises and decision-making in the UAE

The limits of our service

Bookkeeping in KIZAD

For day-to-day books in the zone, see our KIZAD accounting and bookkeeping page.