Implementing Regulations and Memorandum and Articles of Association states that a DMCC entity may request for change of its financial year. DMCC Authority holds the right to demand additional documents at any stage of the process.

It’s the lifeline of your business, your financial statements that play a major role in the compilation of your year-end statements. These are the transactions you record in your accounting books. While preparing your year-end you should have an income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet handy. Apart from that you also need to collect past due invoices, take an accurate count of the materials and supplies you have on hand (if your business has inventory), organize business receipts, reconcile your bank accounts and credit cards and review both your accounts receivable & accounts payable to wrap up your accounts for the current year. In addition, ask your accountant what information they need from you for the closure of the year-end accounts and prepare for the upcoming year and tax season. And last but not least, do not forget to back up all your important accounting information from this year and previous years particularly if you are not using any accounting software.

What would you prefer turning pages for hours to access some critical information or strike just some keys? Big or small, businesses can’t do without accounting. They give you a fair idea of where your business stands financially while making tax season less of a burden on your enterprise. Furthermore, statements allow you to see past and present finances that enables you to forecast your business’s financial future and plan for the next year. And if you think accounting is just the entries of transactions that can be done using pen and paper then you sure are living under the rock. As a business grows, its accounting needs turn more complex often requiring a custom enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Accounting software not only provides the necessary documents for your accountant in the blink of an eye but also reduces the chances of errors. Not only that but if you are using the latest accounting software you may reap endless benefits from keeping track of accounts receivable and accounts payable to getting a clear picture of the business’s profitability to enjoying a relaxed taxation period.

Accounting is way beyond recording figures in a paper ledger. You won’t know until you use all-encompassing accounting software. But here’s the rub. Today internet is bursting at the seams with tons of accounting software with varying capabilities and price tags for any type of business which makes the selection of one specific software that can cater to all your accounting requirements a daunting task. In order to choose the most suitable one for your organisation, all you need to do is decide your budget and discuss with your accountant what set of features they require from accounting software to serve the organisational needs in the best possible way.

Most companies in UAE are using SAP ERP and Zoho Books for their accounting solutions. Tally ERP 9, Sage Intacct, Wave, Xero, Microsoft Dynamics GP, QuickBooks, FreshBooks are some other popular accounting software in UAE that comes with a complete set of features to make your accounting tasks an easy breeze. If you ask us to put in our two cents on which one is the best for you, we suggest that while choosing your accounting software do not follow other organisations or individuals because every business has different needs and not every person knows what you know. To nail the best one, analyse and discuss your business’s accounting requirements with your accounts team.

Temporary accounts are income statement accounts generated to interpret the accounting activity during an accounting period. For example, the revenues account records the number of revenues earned during an accounting period – not during the term of the company. Besides revenues, expenses, gains, and losses are some of the temporary accounts – essentially any account that the income statement accommodates. Additionally, the income summary account, which is an account used to summarize temporary account balances before shifting the net balance elsewhere, is also a temporary account.

Unlike permanent accounts, temporary accounts accumulate balances for a single financial year and are then closed or reset as the fiscal year ends so the beginning of the subsequent year will have no carried forward balance, to begin with. Closing of temporary accounts is necessary to prevent their existing balances from being mixed with the balances of the next accounting period. Therefore, revenue, expense, and withdrawal account always start with zero balance at the start of the new financial year because they are always closed at the end of the previous year. The purpose of doing so is to show the profits that were produced and the accounting activity of individual periods. This concept is in line with the matching principle that requires a company to match expenses with related revenues in order to report a company’s profitability during a specified time interval.

Permanent accounts are balance sheet accounts that records the business transaction which goes beyond an accounting period such as asset, liability, and equity accounts. For example, a vehicle account is a fixed asset account that is recorded on the balance. The vehicle will provide advantages for the organisation in future years, so it is considered a permanent account. Permanent accounts accumulate balances on an ongoing basis through many fiscal years.