Independent internal audit services for businesses that need robust governance without the cost of a full in-house audit team. We conduct risk-based audits across financial, operational, and compliance areas – delivering clear, actionable findings to management and boards.
In brief: Internal audit gives your board independent assurance over how the business actually runs: where cash leaks, where controls fail, and where compliance risk sits. We deliver outsourced and co-sourced internal audit for UAE and GCC groups on a risk-based annual plan, covering revenue, procurement, payroll, treasury, and UAE tax compliance processes. Chartered Accountant and CFA-led, fixed fee, reporting directly to the board.
Many mid-market businesses in the UAE and GCC need robust internal audit capabilities but can't justify the cost of a full in-house function. Our co-sourced and outsourced internal audit service delivers the same rigour at a fraction of the cost.
We begin each engagement with a risk assessment to identify the areas of highest risk to the business – then build an audit plan that focuses time and resources where they matter most. Not a standard checklist but a tailored plan built around your business.
We conduct audits across financial controls, operational processes, and compliance requirements – producing findings that are clear, evidence-based, and genuinely useful to management rather than just box-ticking exercises.
Internal audit findings are only valuable if they drive action. Our reports are written for management and boards – clear findings, root cause analysis, risk ratings, and actionable recommendations with agreed management responses and implementation timelines.
We offer fully outsourced internal audit (where we act as the entire internal audit function) or co-sourced arrangements (where we work alongside an existing in-house team to provide specialist skills or capacity). Both models can be structured on a fixed annual retainer or per-engagement basis.
A no-obligation review of your audit universe, prior findings, and reporting requirements.
Engagement letter with agreed deliverables and fees, signed before work begins.
Audit plan prioritised by risk, led by our senior team, whether outsourced or co-sourced.
Financial and operational audit fieldwork with board-ready reporting delivered on schedule.
Tracking management action on findings through to closure across audit cycles.
Listed companies and regulated financial institutions in the UAE are required to maintain an internal audit function. For private companies it is not mandatory, but boards, investors, and lenders increasingly expect it once a business passes roughly AED 50-100M revenue, operates multiple entities, or is preparing for investment, sale, or IPO. For most mid-market UAE groups, an outsourced or co-sourced model delivers the capability at a fraction of the cost of an in-house team.
A typical annual cycle covers: a risk assessment and audit plan agreed with the board or audit committee, fieldwork across the highest-risk processes (revenue and receivables, procurement and payments, payroll, inventory, treasury, IT access), root-cause findings with practical recommendations, management action tracking, and periodic board reporting. UAE-specific scope usually includes VAT and Corporate Tax compliance processes, WPS payroll controls, and related-party transaction governance.
The external audit gives an opinion on whether the annual financial statements are fairly stated. It is not designed to find fraud, process inefficiency, or control weaknesses unless they are material to the accounts. Internal audit works for the board year-round, tests how the business actually operates, and targets the risks that matter commercially: revenue leakage, procurement fraud, unauthorised payments, and compliance failures that would never surface in a statutory audit.
Fees depend on the number of entities, processes in scope, and audit frequency. A focused annual programme for a single-entity mid-market business is materially cheaper than one full-time internal audit hire, while a multi-entity group programme scales with scope. All fees are fixed and agreed upfront against a defined audit plan, so there are no hourly surprises.
Most mid-market UAE businesses run an annual audit plan covering 3–5 high-risk processes, with a rolling multi-year cycle to eventually cover the full risk universe. Higher-risk or fast-growing businesses often move to a semi-annual cadence, particularly around revenue, procurement, and payroll controls.
Yes – fraud risk reviews of procurement, payments, and payroll are a standard part of our internal audit scope, testing for red flags such as duplicate vendors, split purchase orders below approval thresholds, and unauthorised payment changes. Internal audit is not a forensic investigation, but it is frequently how fraud is first identified.
Findings are reported to the board or audit committee to preserve independence – internal audit's value depends on it not reporting through the operations it is reviewing. Management receives the same findings in parallel, together with agreed action owners and deadlines.
There is no fixed legal threshold for private companies, but boards, lenders, and investors typically start expecting it once revenue passes roughly AED 50–100M, the business operates through multiple legal entities, or it is preparing for a sale, investment round, or IPO.