Dubai Industrial City Audit Preparation Checklist

Confirm the legal entity before planning the audit

Dubai Industrial City is a TECOM Group business district, but its official FAQ says it is not a free zone. The FAQ identifies Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, historically the Department of Economic Development, as the authority responsible for company registration and licensing. It identifies Dubai Development Authority for fit-out and building permits.

Start with the current trade licence, legal form, memorandum, ownership and financial year. Determine whether the operation is an LLC, branch, joint-stock company or one site of a wider entity. Identify the intended users of the statements, including partners, lenders, customers, suppliers, tax teams and the group.

Review Dubai Industrial City audit services and the audit-route explanation

Set the reporting purpose and timetable

The UAE Commercial Companies Law requires every limited liability company and joint-stock company to have one or more auditors carry out an annual audit. Other audit needs may arise from constitutional documents, lenders, shareholders, group instructions, customer contracts or Corporate tax rules.

Do not apply a DDA free-zone filing deadline solely because Dubai Industrial City is part of TECOM Group. Confirm the actual licence and current instruction. Then work backwards from the approved internal or external reporting date.

• Nominate owners for finance, sales, purchasing, stores, production, engineering, HR, tax and group schedules.
• Freeze one controlled trial balance and record every approved subsequent entry.
• Plan stock counts, external confirmations and specialist work before management approval.

Define the inventory population and count plan

List every factory, warehouse, open yard, cold store, third-party location, consignment location and quantity held by another party. Separate raw materials, consumables, spare parts, work in progress, finished goods, goods in transit, customer-owned items and scrap.

Management is responsible for inventory records and the physical count. When inventory is material, the financial statement auditor plans appropriate procedures, which may include attending the count, test counting, inspecting condition, testing movements and reconciling the final inventory listing to the ledger.

• Issue written count instructions, pre-numbered sheets or controlled device access, and movement controls.
• Record the item, unit, location, ownership, condition and count result.
• Investigate differences and retain approval for adjustments rather than overwriting the original count trail.

Support raw materials, WIP and finished-goods costing

For each material product family, document the costing method and source data. Reconcile purchase cost and landed cost, bill of materials or recipe, labour, machine use and production overheads. Explain standard-cost rates and variances against actual results.

Work in progress needs quantities, stage of completion and a reliable cost build-up. Retain job cards, batch reports, materials issued, labour and machine records, subcontracting, committed costs, expected remaining work and the subsequent outcome.

Assess net realisable value and provisions using condition, ageing, sales history, current prices, completion costs and selling costs. Customer-specific, expired, damaged, discontinued or slow-moving items should not be hidden within a broad inventory category.

Reconcile production yield, waste and scrap

Connect material input to output, normal loss, abnormal waste, rework, by-products and scrap. Compare actual yields with approved standards and investigate unusual differences by line, shift, batch or product.

Control scrap quantities, storage and sale proceeds. Reconcile dispatch documents, buyer invoices and receipts. Consider whether environmental or disposal records and specialist assessments are needed for regulated materials.

Prepare plant, projects and facility evidence

Maintain a fixed-asset register by location with description, tag, acquisition cost, installation, commissioning date, useful life, depreciation, movement and condition. Separate operating spares, capital spares, consumables and inventory according to the reporting framework.

For capital work in progress, retain approved budgets, contracts, certificates, invoices, site progress, capitalised costs and the date the asset was available for use. Review stalled projects, overruns, changes, impairment indicators and commitments.

Document leases for land, factories, warehouses, yards, worker accommodation, vehicles and equipment. Reconcile payments and modifications and maintain the assumptions used in reporting calculations.

Connect sales, dispatch and acceptance

Build a contract-to-ledger schedule for material customers and products. Link orders and terms to production, dispatch, title transfer or acceptance, invoices, credit notes, returns and subsequent receipts.

Assess cut-off and unusual terms such as bill-and-hold, consignment, installation, customer-owned materials, volume rebates, warranties and variable consideration. The invoice date alone may not establish when revenue is recognised.

Reconcile payroll, provisions and commitments

Reconcile employees and payroll to bank or wage records and the ledger. Support leave, end-of-service benefits, overtime, production incentives and year-end accruals. Explain workers assigned through third parties and the contractual substance of the arrangement.

Prepare schedules for warranties, onerous contracts, claims, environmental or restoration obligations, purchase commitments and subsequent events. Management remains responsible for estimates; legal, engineering or valuation specialists may be needed for technically complex matters.

Document tax and related-party transactions

Reconcile Corporate tax and VAT records to the final financial statements. For tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025, Ministerial Decision 84 of 2025 requires audited financial statements for a taxable person outside a tax group with revenue above AED 50 million and contains a special-purpose audited statement rule for a tax group.

Dubai Industrial City is not a free zone, so its address does not itself support Qualifying Free Zone Person status or a 0% Corporate tax rate. Assess the actual entity and transactions.

For related-party raw materials, finished goods, contract manufacturing, machinery, technology, intellectual property, management, financing or shared costs, retain agreements, functional analysis, pricing calculations, allocation keys and delivery evidence. A benchmarking study supports the selected method but does not replace the transaction records.

Review transfer pricing benchmarking support

Complete the final review and retain the file

Reconcile the final financial statements to the approved trial balance and adjustment list. Check the legal name, period, comparatives, accounting policies, disclosures and signatories. Ensure tax, lender and group teams use the same approved figures or clearly documented reconciliations.

Retain signed statements, the auditor’s report, inventory-count file, costing support, confirmations, management approvals, tax workings and any stakeholder submission evidence according to the applicable retention rules.

Request a properly scoped proposal

SAIF Chartered Accountants supports Dubai Industrial City manufacturers, warehouse operators and logistics businesses with annual audit, accounting readiness, internal audit, Corporate tax and transfer pricing services. Share the licence, legal form, financial year, trial balance, prior report, sites and required date.

Explain products, inventory locations, production systems, WIP, machinery, branches and related-party transactions. Accounting preparation and independent audit are distinct services; any assistance is separately agreed and assessed against independence requirements.

Discuss your Dubai Industrial City audit