Documented once, applied consistently, every time
Accounting Policies & Procedures Manual
Documented policies covering revenue recognition, fixed asset treatment and internal controls, built from templates refined across real prior engagements — the kind of institutional knowledge that shouldn't live only in one person's head, especially the day that person leaves.
Matters most exactly when your finance team changes
Key facts
| Typical contents | Revenue recognition policy, fixed asset policy, internal controls, month-end close checklist |
| Basis | IFRS or IFRS for SMEs, matched to your specific reporting requirement |
| Use case | Audit readiness, new-hire onboarding, multi-entity consistency across a group |
What this actually involves
An accounting policies manual isn't a compliance formality gathering dust in a drawer — it's the reference document that lets a new bookkeeper, accountant, or finance hire pick up exactly where the last person left off, applying the same revenue recognition treatment, the same fixed asset capitalisation threshold, the same month-end close sequence, without having to reverse-engineer it from six months of prior journal entries.
For businesses running more than one UAE entity — a mainland operating company and a free zone holding structure, say — a shared policy manual ensures consistent treatment across the group, which matters both for internal comparability and for a smoother, faster audit process when the auditor can see one documented standard applied uniformly rather than entity-by-entity inconsistency.
We build from templates refined across real prior engagements rather than drafting from a blank page each time, which keeps cost proportionate for smaller businesses while still producing something genuinely specific to your industry and transaction types, not a generic boilerplate document that technically exists but doesn't actually reflect how your business operates.
Is this actually relevant to you?
- Your finance function currently depends heavily on one person's institutional knowledge, with limited documentation
- You're onboarding a new bookkeeper, accountant, or finance hire and want them to follow documented standards, not guess
- You operate more than one UAE entity and want consistent accounting treatment applied across the group
- You're preparing for your first statutory audit and know documented policies will speed up the process
Our process, step by step
Policy scoping
Identifying which specific policies matter most for your business and industry, not a generic checklist.
Policy manual drafting
Covering revenue recognition, fixed assets, internal controls and month-end close, specific to your transactions.
IFRS alignment review
Ensuring documented policy actually matches how transactions are currently being recorded, not an aspirational standard nobody follows.
Rollout & training
Ensuring your finance team actually understands and applies the documented policies, not just receives the document.
Scope of work
An accounting manual sets the rules your bookkeeping team follows, supports a smoother statutory audit, and is a standard request in internal audit reviews.
The costs of undocumented institutional knowledge
- A key bookkeeper or finance hire leaves, and their specific approach to categorisation and treatment leaves with them, creating inconsistency in the transition.
- Multi-entity groups applying inconsistent accounting treatment across entities, discovered only when an auditor flags the discrepancy.
- A documented manual that exists but doesn't actually match current practice, because it was drafted once and never updated as the business evolved.
Related accounting and bookkeeping services
Monthly accounting, reporting and year-end statements from one team — ready for audit and tax filing.
Related guides from our team
Practical explanations of the rules behind this service, written by our chartered accountants.
Common questions
Do we need this if we're a small business?+
Even a simple manual — even a few pages — reduces dependency on one person's memory and speeds up onboarding for new finance staff, regardless of business size.
Will this help with our audit?+
Yes — auditors specifically look for documented policies, particularly around revenue recognition and fixed assets; having them ready in advance speeds up the audit process meaningfully.
How often should the manual be updated?+
Whenever a material change occurs in how the business operates or a new type of transaction becomes common — treating it as a living document, not a one-time deliverable.
Can the manual cover multiple UAE entities under one group?+
Yes — this is exactly where a shared manual adds the most value, ensuring consistent treatment is applied across mainland, free zone or offshore entities within the same group.
Does the manual need to follow full IFRS or is IFRS for SMEs sufficient?+
Depends on your entity's size and reporting requirements — we'll confirm which framework genuinely applies before drafting.
Relying on institutional memory instead of documented policy?
We'll build a manual specific to your business, based on templates already proven across real engagements.