Virtual Accounting & Consulting Services

The core service covers ongoing bookkeeping — recording sales, purchases, bank and cash transactions — monthly bank and credit facility reconciliation, accounts receivable and payable management, fixed asset and depreciation tracking, and a monthly management accounts pack (profit & loss, balance sheet, cash flow) with commentary. VAT return preparation, Corporate Tax provisioning and return support, and year-end audit liaison are built into the engagement rather than billed as separate surprise add-ons.

A single part-time bookkeeper provides one skill level with no independent review — the same person who enters a transaction is the only person checking it, which is a control weakness on its own. PNPC's virtual accounting model layers a bookkeeper for entry, a senior accountant for reconciliation and review, and a Chartered Accountant for VAT/Corporate Tax classification and management-level judgment, at a predictable monthly fee with no single-person dependency.

We work primarily with Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online, and Xero, selecting the platform based on your existing tools, invoicing needs, multi-currency requirements, and any integrations with e-commerce, payment gateway, or CRM systems you already use. If you already use one of these platforms, we typically continue on it rather than forcing a migration; if you have no existing platform, we recommend one based on your business profile during the scoping call.

You have direct, real-time, role-based access to the cloud accounting platform at all times — you are never locked out of your own financial data or dependent on us to email you a report before you can see your numbers. The monthly management accounts pack adds a structured summary and written commentary on top of that always-available raw data.

Yes — this is one of the most common starting points for a virtual accounting engagement. We run a structured backlog clearance project first: reconstructing the missing periods from bank statements, invoices, and any available records, flagging clearly where source documents are missing, and getting management sign-off on an opening trial balance. Only once that is complete do we start the ongoing monthly cycle, so the forward-looking books are not built on an unreviewed foundation.

It depends heavily on transaction volume, the number of periods behind, and how complete the available bank statements and supporting documents are. A straightforward single-entity cleanup covering 6–12 months of moderate transaction volume typically takes 2–4 weeks; a more complex multi-entity or multi-year backlog with incomplete records can extend to 6–8 weeks or more. We give a specific estimate after reviewing the actual state of your records at the scoping stage, rather than a generic figure.

Both. The bookkeeping fundamentals — recording transactions, bank reconciliation, VAT and Corporate Tax classification — are the same regardless of whether the licence is issued by a free zone authority or the DED. The main structural difference we account for is whether the free zone company qualifies as a Qualifying Free Zone Person eligible for the 0% Corporate Tax rate on qualifying income under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, which affects how income is classified and tracked in the ledger.

We do both as part of the standard engagement. Because the chart of accounts is designed for FTA VAT reporting from the start, the return is prepared directly from the reconciled books, reviewed by a senior accountant or CA for input tax recoverability and correct treatment of zero-rated, exempt, and reverse-charge transactions, and then submitted through the FTA's EmaraTax portal on your behalf, within your assigned filing period.

We provide quarterly management estimates of your Corporate Tax position through the year so there are no year-end surprises, and prepare the annual Corporate Tax return computation from the same reconciled books once the financial year closes — including correctly applying the 0% rate on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that threshold under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, adjustments for non-deductible expenses, and, where relevant, assessment of Qualifying Free Zone Person eligibility.

Standard-rated supplies attract 5% VAT and allow the related input VAT to be recovered. Zero-rated supplies (certain exports, international transport, and specified categories under the VAT Executive Regulations) are taxed at 0% but still allow input VAT recovery. Exempt supplies (certain financial services, residential leases in specified circumstances, and bare land, among others) do not attract VAT but generally do not allow related input VAT recovery either. Getting this classification wrong at the point of entry either overstates your VAT liability or understates it — both of which create problems with the FTA.

Yes. The cloud platforms we work with (Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online, Xero) all support multi-currency invoicing and automatic exchange rate tracking against your base AED currency, with realised and unrealised gain/loss postings handled correctly for both management reporting and Corporate Tax purposes.

PNPC has operating offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Dubai. For a group with both a UAE and an Indian entity, we maintain consistent accounting policy and coordinate reporting across both sides under one engagement — covering the UAE-side VAT and Corporate Tax cycle, the India-side GST and Income-tax accounting, and the intercompany transaction treatment relevant to India-UAE DTAA planning and, where applicable, FEMA ODI/FDI reporting on the Indian investor's side.

No. Many clients engage virtual accounting before VAT registration is even mandatory, so the books are built correctly from the earliest stage and VAT registration — when the mandatory turnover threshold is reached or voluntary registration is elected — is a smooth, well-documented step rather than a rushed retrofit. We monitor your turnover against the FTA's mandatory VAT registration threshold and flag when registration becomes required.

A standard monthly pack includes a Profit & Loss statement, a Balance Sheet, a Cash Flow summary, an Accounts Receivable and Payable ageing report, and a written commentary flagging any unusual movements, cash flow trends, or compliance items that need management attention. Additional reports — departmental or project-level P&L, budget-versus-actual, or customer/vendor-level analysis — can be added based on your business's specific decision-making needs.

This is agreed specifically in your engagement letter based on transaction volume and the complexity of your reconciliations, but a typical target is within 7–10 working days of month-end for a standard single-entity engagement, assuming source documents (invoices, bank statements) are provided to us on the agreed schedule during the month.

We maintain and update the receivables ageing schedule and flag overdue accounts to management proactively as part of the standard service. Direct customer collection calls or dunning communication are typically handled by the client's own team, since customer relationship tone matters commercially, but PNPC can take on structured collections support as an add-on scope where a client specifically wants that handled externally.

For most small and mid-sized UAE businesses, yes, for the core accounting and reporting function — but for a business that specifically needs someone physically present for daily operational finance decisions, board-level strategic finance leadership, or complex fundraising negotiations, PNPC's virtual accounting is best paired with our Startup vCFO advisory service, which adds strategic, part-time senior finance leadership on top of the bookkeeping and reporting layer.

PNPC charges a fixed, agreed monthly retainer fee, scoped to your transaction volume, number of bank accounts, entity count, and the specific services included (bookkeeping only, versus bookkeeping plus VAT filing plus Corporate Tax support). The fee is confirmed in writing before the engagement begins. Backlog cleanup, if required, is quoted as a separate one-time project fee based on the volume and state of the historic records.

Access to the cloud accounting platform and your bank feeds is granted on a role-based, need-to-know basis to our engaged team members only, using the security controls built into the cloud platforms we use (Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online, Xero), which include audit trails of every user action. Banking access, where granted, is typically view-only for reconciliation purposes rather than transactional access, and is arranged directly through your bank's secure channels rather than by sharing login credentials informally.

No. Because the books are maintained in a standard cloud accounting platform with real-time access already available to you, transitioning to an in-house hire is a matter of handover documentation and a short overlap period rather than a data migration exercise. We provide a structured handover pack — chart of accounts documentation, reconciliation methodology, and open items — to whoever takes over.

Payroll processing, including WPS-compliant salary disbursement, is offered as a related but distinct service under PNPC's Accounting, Payroll & Outsourcing pillar. Virtual accounting will correctly record and reconcile payroll costs, gratuity accruals, and related employment expenses in the books whether or not PNPC runs the payroll processing itself, but we recommend bundling both where possible for tighter reconciliation between the payroll run and the ledger.

Yes. Every reconciliation and management accounts pack passes through a senior review before it reaches you — the person entering transactions is not the only person checking them. VAT returns and Corporate Tax computations receive a further review by a Chartered Accountant before submission or sign-off. This layered review structure is a core part of what distinguishes a CA-led virtual accounting service from a single bookkeeper working alone.

Yes, this is a routine transition. We request the existing accounting file, bank statements for the year to date, and any prior VAT/Corporate Tax filings, reconcile the opening position as of the handover date, and pick up the ongoing cycle from there — flagging clearly to management any discrepancies found between the previous provider's records and the underlying bank statements.

A Qualifying Free Zone Person is a free zone entity that meets specific conditions set by the FTA under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 — including maintaining adequate substance in the UAE, deriving qualifying income as defined in the Cabinet and Ministerial decisions on this topic, and complying with transfer pricing requirements — allowing it to apply a 0% Corporate Tax rate on qualifying income while non-qualifying income is taxed at the standard 9% rate. Bookkeeping for a business claiming this status must clearly separate qualifying from non-qualifying income streams in the chart of accounts, since misclassification risks the FTA disallowing the 0% treatment on the affected income.

Yes, for standard trading and light e-commerce inventory models — we set up inventory tracking within the cloud accounting platform, including cost of goods sold calculation, stock valuation, and reconciliation against physical stock counts on an agreed cycle. Businesses with complex, high-SKU-count warehouse operations or manufacturing costing may need a dedicated inventory management system integrated with the accounting platform, which we can help scope and connect.

PNPC prepares the requested records, reconciliation schedules, and supporting documentation for an FTA query or audit, and our team is directly available to explain the accounting treatment behind any specific entry the FTA queries, since we maintained the books ourselves and understand the classification decisions taken. Formal legal representation before the FTA in a disputed assessment is a separate advisory scope we can also support, coordinated with our tax advisory team.

You can start with core bookkeeping and reconciliation and add VAT filing, Corporate Tax support, payroll processing, or a full management reporting pack later as your business grows and your needs become clearer — the engagement scope is revisited and adjusted, not fixed permanently at the outset.

Intercompany transactions — management fees, cost recharges, loans, or goods/services transferred between related entities — are recorded with specific attention to UAE Corporate Tax transfer pricing requirements under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, which generally require related-party transactions to be priced on an arm's-length basis with supporting documentation. Where the related entity is in India, we also coordinate with PNPC's India offices on the corresponding treatment and any DTAA implications on that side.

PNPC typically proposes an initial engagement period — commonly a rolling monthly retainer with a short minimum term to allow proper onboarding and at least one full close-and-review cycle to establish the relationship — after which either party can adjust or end the engagement with reasonable notice, as set out in the written engagement letter. We do not lock clients into lengthy fixed-term contracts without a clear opt-out mechanism.

A generic app or a freelance bookkeeper can enter transactions, but rarely brings the layered review, VAT/Corporate Tax classification judgment, and CA-level oversight that keeps your books audit-ready and filing-accurate as regulation evolves. PNPC is a practising CA firm with a Dubai office and decades of accounting practice behind it — we combine the convenience of a cloud-based, remote service with the technical depth of a firm that also prepares your VAT returns, Corporate Tax filings, and can represent you in an FTA query, not just a data-entry function that stops at the ledger.

Discovery and scoping consultation. Books health assessment and opening balance review. Custom chart of accounts design mapped to your licensed activity and VAT/Corporate Tax categories. Cloud accounting platform setup with bank feed connections. Backlog clearance, if required, as a scoped add-on project. Ongoing monthly transaction processing and bank/credit facility reconciliation. Accounts receivable and payable ageing management. Fixed asset and depreciation tracking. Monthly management accounts pack with written commentary. VAT return preparation and FTA filing. Quarterly Corporate Tax provisioning estimates and annual Corporate Tax return preparation. Year-end audit file preparation and auditor liaison.

Yes. Virtual accounting is, by design, a remote-delivered service — we serve clients across all seven Emirates from our Dubai office, using the same cloud platform access model regardless of where the business's licensed office or Ejari-registered premises is located. Physical presence is only relevant for the rare step that genuinely requires it, such as an in-person bank meeting the client wants us to accompany them to.

Investors and acquirers conduct financial due diligence that scrutinises exactly the areas virtual accounting is built to keep clean — reconciled bank accounts, a defensible chart of accounts, properly classified VAT and Corporate Tax positions, and a clear audit trail of intercompany and related-party transactions. Businesses that maintain review-ready books continuously move through due diligence significantly faster and with fewer valuation-eroding surprises than those that scramble to reconstruct clean records once a term sheet is on the table.

The standard retainer covers bookkeeping, reconciliation, AR/AP management, monthly management accounts, VAT return preparation and filing, and Corporate Tax provisioning and return support. It does not automatically include company secretarial work, formal statutory audit (a separate licensed auditor signs that off, though PNPC coordinates with them), formal legal representation in a disputed FTA assessment, or active customer collections calls — these are available as adjacent, separately scoped services rather than being silently bundled in or silently excluded.

We process what has been received and flag missing items — a specific missing invoice, an unreconciled bank line, an unexplained transfer — in an exception list attached to that month's close pack, rather than silently estimating or excluding them without comment. Persistent lateness delays the close and, if it continues, is raised with management directly because a delayed close compresses the time available before the VAT filing deadline.

Owner drawings, related-party loans, and shareholder current-account movements are tagged and reviewed separately from routine trade transactions, since misclassifying these can distort both the balance sheet and the Corporate Tax computation. Access to this category of entry is restricted to senior team members rather than left to the entry-level bookkeeper, and any unusual owner transaction is logged in the exception register for explicit management sign-off rather than being absorbed into a generic ledger account.

A transaction needs a source document that identifies the counterparty, amount, date, and nature of the transaction — a tax invoice for VAT-bearing purchases, a signed contract or purchase order for revenue recognition timing, and a bank statement line matching the payment. Entries lacking this are not silently posted; they are held in a suspense or exception category until the supporting document is obtained or management explicitly accepts an estimate, which is then documented as such rather than presented as a confirmed figure.

Yes. Books, supporting schedules, and underlying source documents processed through the engagement are retained in a manner consistent with the record-retention period the Federal Tax Authority requires for Corporate Tax purposes under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 — currently at least seven years from the end of the relevant tax period. If the client's own document management practices fall short of that, we flag it during onboarding rather than assuming it is already handled.

Changes to a company's trade name, registered address, or licensed business activity can trigger an FTA tax-record amendment obligation, which under current EmaraTax guidance must be notified within 20 business days of the change. When a client tells us about a pending change — or we notice one from a renewed trade licence — we flag the FTA notification requirement immediately rather than assuming the client's corporate secretarial provider has already handled it.

We agree the inventory valuation method — weighted average or FIFO, most commonly — explicitly with management at setup, document the choice, and apply it consistently period to period, because switching methods without disclosure distorts reported margins and can affect the Corporate Tax computation. Stock counts are reconciled against the ledger on an agreed cycle rather than assumed to match, and variances are investigated rather than plugged as a balancing journal entry.

Intercompany balances — management fee recharges, loans, or cost allocations between a UAE entity and a related Indian entity — are reconciled on both sides so the balances agree, documented with the transfer-pricing basis required under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 for UAE Corporate Tax purposes, and shared with PNPC's India teams so the corresponding Indian-side accounting and Income-tax treatment is consistent rather than developed independently by two disconnected teams.

Even without a statutory audit requirement, a disciplined monthly close protects against three concrete risks: filing an inaccurate VAT return because the underlying ledger was never reconciled, mispricing your Corporate Tax position because expense classification drifted over the year, and losing the ability to explain a specific balance if a bank, investor, or the FTA asks about it later. The close pack — reconciliations, exception notes, review sign-off — is what lets PNPC or the client answer that question quickly instead of reconstructing history under time pressure.

Because reconciliations, VAT tax coding, and supporting schedules are maintained continuously rather than assembled only at year-end, PNPC can typically compile the requested transaction detail, supporting documents, and explanatory notes for an FTA query within a few working days for a single period, rather than needing weeks to reconstruct records that were never properly closed in the first place.

We would advise against it directly rather than simply executing the request — spreadsheet-based bookkeeping loses the audit trail, bank-feed reconciliation, and role-based access controls that a cloud platform provides, all of which matter for VAT and Corporate Tax defensibility. If a client insists, we document that recommendation was made and declined, and hand over the historic cloud file intact so the record before the change remains available.

Before any migration between Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online, or Xero, we export and archive the full historic ledger, reconcile the last closed period on both the old and new platform to confirm the opening balance carries across correctly, and run a short parallel period where possible so discrepancies surface before the old platform is decommissioned rather than after.

Imported services (a foreign SaaS subscription, an overseas consultant, a marketing platform billing from abroad) and imported goods clearing UAE customs both fall under the VAT reverse-charge mechanism — you self-account for the 5% output VAT and, where recoverable, claim the corresponding input VAT in the same return, so the net cash effect is often nil but the disclosure is mandatory. We post both legs at the point of entry and tag the transaction so it flows into the correct boxes of the VAT return rather than being recorded as a simple expense with no VAT treatment.

Capital injections, shareholder loans, and owner drawings are recorded through dedicated shareholder current-account or equity accounts, never as revenue or expense — because a drawing booked as a business cost overstates deductible expenses and understates taxable income, and an injection booked as income inflates the Corporate Tax base for no reason. Each movement is tagged for the related-party disclosure the FTA expects and, where a shareholder loan carries interest, we check it against the arm's-length pricing expectation under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022.

The recurring blockers are: supplier tax invoices that do not show a valid TRN (so input VAT cannot be claimed until corrected), bank transfers with no matching invoice or explanation, unrecorded cash sales, Ejari and utility bills received late, and inter-account or credit-card transfers that look like income or expense until identified. We track each open item in an exception register attached to the close pack rather than force-closing the period with a balancing entry that hides the gap.

Virtual accounting is remote by design — transaction processing, reconciliation, VAT and Corporate Tax preparation, and management reporting all run through the cloud platform, bank-feed access, and EmaraTax with no need for anyone on site. The only steps that occasionally need physical presence are a client-requested in-person bank meeting or an auditor who wants to inspect original hard-copy documents; neither is part of the routine monthly cycle. Unlike attestation, visa, or notarisation work, there is no biometric, medical, or original-signature step inherent to bookkeeping.

The high-value preparation is: the trade licence and MOA, your TRN and Corporate Tax registration details, twelve months of statements for every bank account and credit facility, your issued sales invoices and supplier tax invoices, WPS payroll reports, the fixed-asset list, and any prior-year financials or VAT returns already filed. With those in hand we can verify the opening position and agree a reconciled opening trial balance rather than starting the ongoing cycle on unverified numbers.

A low-cost freelancer or offshore data-entry service can post transactions cheaply, but the exposure sits in what they miss: unclaimed or over-claimed input VAT, omitted reverse-charge, misclassified qualifying versus non-qualifying free zone income, owner transactions booked as expenses, and unreconciled bank accounts that understate taxable income. Any one of these can cost multiples of the annual fee saved once it surfaces in an FTA penalty, a disallowed VAT recovery, or a due-diligence write-down. PNPC prices around the review layer that catches these before they compound.

The ledger is the tax position — the VAT return is a direct extract of the reconciled books mapped to FTA tax codes, and the Corporate Tax computation starts from the same closed trial balance, adjusted for non-deductible items, the AED 375,000 nil-rate band, and any qualifying free zone income. Because the chart of accounts is built for both taxes from day one, there is no reclassification scramble before a return; the accounting output is already EmaraTax-ready. Records are also retained for at least seven years from the end of the tax period, as the FTA requires for Corporate Tax.

The monthly retainer is the professional fee for bookkeeping, reconciliation, review, and tax preparation. Third-party costs — the cloud software subscription, FTA administrative charges, bank fees, or an external auditor's fee where a statutory audit is required — are itemised separately and confirmed against the current provider or authority rate at the time, because software and authority charges change periodically and we do not bundle a guessed figure into the retainer.

When the FTA updates a rule, a public clarification, a tax code, or an EmaraTax return format mid-year — which has happened repeatedly as the Corporate Tax regime beds in — we apply the change from its effective date, re-map affected accounts if needed, and document what changed so the treatment before and after the change is both defensible. We do not retroactively restate periods already filed under the earlier rule unless the FTA specifically requires it.

For a group with a UAE entity and a related Indian entity, we keep both sets of books visible to one coordinating team across PNPC's Dubai and Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad offices — so intercompany balances (management fees, cost recharges, loans) reconcile on both sides, the transfer-pricing basis required under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 is documented for the UAE side, and the India-side Income-tax, GST, and any FEMA ODI/FDI reporting on the investor's side is treated consistently rather than developed in isolation by two disconnected accountants.