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For the books that do not fit a monthly close

Special situations

Short answer

Finbryn handles Saudi Arabia bookkeeping situations a routine monthly close does not cover: several years of backlog behind a Commercial Registration, a dormant entity still on the Ministry of Commerce and ZATCA registers, a full wind-down, or several licences needing one consolidated view. Each engagement is scoped on its own timeline inside QuickBooks Online or Xero before work starts.

Bank reconciliation summary

Illustrative client · August 2026

SAR

Reconciled weekly
Reconciliation summary
AccountDifferenceStatus
Operating account··48210.00Reconciled
Reserve account··09370.00Reconciled
Company card··10060.00Reconciled
Card processor clearing0.00Reconciled
Payroll clearing0.00Reconciled

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 a monthly close is not the problem you actually have

A standard engagement runs on one rhythm: reconcile, close, repeat, every month, on schedule. A special situation breaks that rhythm before it can even start. A Riyadh trading company shows up four years behind on reconciliations because whoever kept the books left with no handover, a Jeddah subsidiary has sat quiet since a shareholder walked away, or a group holding licences across Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam needs one number a bank will actually accept. None of that fits a normal onboarding call, so Finbryn scopes the work on its own terms first.

The same sourcing standard, whatever the situation

Whether the work is a multi-year catch-up or a full records reconstruction, every transaction traces back to a bank or payment-gateway statement, never to a guess, and the QuickBooks Online or Xero file stays registered in the company's own name throughout the engagement. Nothing gets filed on the company's behalf without a named adviser attached to it. Zakat runs at 2.5 percent of the Zakat base on whatever share Saudi and GCC shareholders hold, and corporate income tax at 20 percent applies to the non-Saudi share, and a stalled backlog often turns out to be exactly the period that split was never calculated correctly in the first place.

Two situations with a filing clock still running underneath

A dormant company keeps a Commercial Registration that still needs renewing, and in most cases still owes a Zakat or tax return within 120 days of its year end even at zero revenue. A wind-down faces the mirror version of that same clock: a final Zakat and tax position, a closing VAT account, and a Ministry of Commerce record that has to reconcile before the Commercial Registration is ever cancelled.

A Zakat, corporate income tax or VAT return that comes out of any of this is prepared by our team and filed by the taxpayer or a licensed tax agent, never by Finbryn directly. A group running several licences, across Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam or split between Saudi and foreign ownership, gets one consolidated view built from clean per-entity books instead of a spreadsheet stitched together once a year; see franchise and multi-entity consolidation. For how an engagement like this gets scoped and priced, see pricing, or how it works for what the first weeks look like.

Questions

Frequently asked questions: Special situations

Can you catch up several years of Saudi 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 Zakat, corporate income tax or VAT return?

We prepare the books and the supporting figures. The return itself is filed by the taxpayer or a ZATCA-licensed tax agent, never by Finbryn directly.

What happens if a dormant entity misses a Zakat or tax registration?

A Zakat or tax liability that is not paid on time accrues a penalty of 1 percent of the unpaid amount for every 30 days of delay, and an unregistered entity cannot obtain the Zakat certificate many government dealings require.

Will you work inside our existing QuickBooks Online or Xero 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 Commercial Registration, negotiate with ZATCA on penalties, or file the final 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 in Saudi Arabia?

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.