For the books that do not fit a monthly close
Special situations
Finbryn handles UAE bookkeeping situations a normal monthly cycle does not cover: years of backlog behind a free zone or mainland company, a dormant trade licence, a full wind-down, or several related entities that need one consolidated view. Each engagement is scoped on its own timeline, inside QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books, before any work starts.
Bank reconciliation summary
Illustrative client · August 2026
AED
| Account | Difference | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating account··4821 | 184,220.16 | 184,220.16 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Reserve account··0937 | 60,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Company card··1006 | (12,418.52) | (12,418.52) | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Card processor clearing | 8,905.40 | 8,905.40 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
| Payroll clearing | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | Reconciled |
Last weekly runFri 28 Aug, every account agreed to its statement.
Two open itemsTwo card receipts requested from you, marked on the card account until they arrive.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
When the calendar stops matching the business
A licence renewal date, a Corporate Tax registration window and a monthly close all assume a business that is trading normally, on schedule, with someone keeping the books current as it goes. Special situations are what happens once one of those assumptions breaks: a free zone company that has not touched its bank reconciliations in three years because the person who used to do it left, a mainland subsidiary sitting dormant since a shareholder moved on to something else, or a group holding licences across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and a couple of free zones that needs one number a bank can actually read. None of that starts from a standard onboarding call, so each engagement gets scoped on its own before anything is touched.
The backlog does not get a lighter standard
Whether the work is a multi-year catch-up running years deep or a records reconstruction starting from a file nobody trusts, every transaction traces back to an actual bank, card or payment-gateway statement, in the same QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books file the company already holds. A backlog is frequently the moment a business first sees exactly when it crossed AED 375,000 in taxable supplies or when a free zone entity's Qualifying Income should have started being tracked separately, both facts that matter well beyond the immediate cleanup.
Standing still is its own filing obligation
A dormant entity does not get to skip Corporate Tax registration just because nothing is trading through it, and missing that registration carries a real AED 10,000 penalty regardless of revenue. Closing a company runs the same logic in reverse: a wind-down needs a final Corporate Tax return, a closing VAT position and a licence cancellation that all have to agree with each other before deregistration is actually complete, not a form filed while the underlying numbers are still unresolved.
Where the filing itself goes
Anything that touches a Corporate Tax or VAT return gets prepared here and filed by the taxpayer or a tax agent listed with the FTA, never submitted by us directly. A group running several licences, free zone, mainland or a mix, gets one consolidated view built from clean books at entity level rather than a spreadsheet assembled under pressure at year end; see franchise and multi-entity consolidation. Pricing covers how a special-situations engagement gets scoped, and how it works covers what the first weeks actually involve.
All services
Special situations: every service
- Multi-year catch-upBringing several years of unreconciled or missing books current in one structured engagement, scoped and timed before the work starts.
- Records reconstructionRebuilding a business's financial history from bank statements, receipts and other source documents when the original books are incomplete, lost or unreliable.
- Dormant company bookkeepingBookkeeping and reporting for an entity that is registered but not actively trading, so required filings can still be prepared and stay current until it reactivates or winds down.
- Wind-down exit packA structured close-out of the books and records when a business is winding down or dissolving, so the final return, the final state filings and the exit itself all rest on numbers that reconcile.
- Franchise and multi-entity consolidationBookkeeping across multiple franchise units or related entities, each location's books kept separately and then rolled up into one consolidated view.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Special situations
Can you catch up several years of UAE bookkeeping at once?
Yes. We scope the engagement by how many backlog periods you have statements for once the accounts and the volume involved are reviewed.
Do you file our overdue Corporate Tax return or VAT return?
We prepare the books and the supporting figures. The return itself is filed by the taxpayer or an FTA-approved tax agent, never by Finbryn directly.
What happens if a dormant licence misses a renewal or a Corporate Tax registration?
A lapsed trade licence or a late Corporate Tax registration carries its own penalty, including the AED 10,000 fee for late registration, and is harder to unwind the longer it sits unresolved.
Will you work inside our existing QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books file?
Yes. We work inside the file you already hold rather than asking you to move platforms.
What is out of scope for a special-situations engagement?
We rebuild records, catch up filings-ready books, and prepare dormant or wind-down accounts. We do not decide whether to cancel a licence, negotiate with the Federal Tax Authority on penalties, or file the deregistration or final Corporate Tax return ourselves, since those steps need your own decision or a licensed tax agent's action.
How is pricing set for catch-up or special-situations work?
Pricing depends on how many periods are behind, how complete the source records are, and whether an overdue filing is time-critical, not a single rate for every project. A scoping review comes first so the quote reflects the actual state of the records, confirmed in your engagement letter.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.