Skip to content

Insights Accounting

Cash Flow Statement Format for a UAE Business, Direct and Indirect Methods

What a cash flow statement is, both IAS 7 formats set out line by line, a worked AED example, and the UAE rules that decide when you must produce one.

Stacks of statements arranged by height, illustrating the operating, investing and financing sections of a UAE cash flow statement
Stacks of statements arranged by height, illustrating the operating, investing and financing sections of a UAE cash flow statement Photo: Velmont Crest Editorial

Key takeaways

  1. IAS 7 paragraph 10 requires cash flows classified as operating, investing and financing
  2. IAS 7 paragraph 18 permits the direct or indirect method; paragraph 19 encourages the direct one
  3. The statement is part of the complete set defined in Ministerial Decision No. 114 of 2023, Article 1
  4. Cash equivalents normally means investments maturing within about three months of acquisition
  5. The three UAE causes of a profit-to-cash gap are receivables, stock and capital spend
  6. Comparatives are compulsory — IAS 1 paragraph 38A requires two statements of cash flows

A cash flow statement reports the actual movement of cash and cash equivalents over a period, split three ways — operating, investing and financing — and reconciles the opening bank balance to the closing one. It is the statement that explains why a profitable UAE company can be short of cash, and it is the one owners skip and lenders read first.

IAS 7 governs it. Paragraph 10 fixes the three-way split. Paragraph 18 allows two presentations of the operating section: the direct method, showing gross receipts and payments, or the indirect method, starting from profit and adjusting it. Both are set out below, with a worked AED example you can copy the structure of.

The indirect-method layout described here is included in the UAE financial statement template, which closes to cash at the end of the year so you can check it against the balance sheet.

What a cash flow statement is, in one paragraph

Profit is an accounting measure. It records a sale when the invoice is raised, not when the customer pays, and it spreads the cost of a vehicle over five years rather than charging the cheque that bought it. Cash is a fact. The cash flow statement is the bridge between the two, and it is the only statement in the set that cannot be improved by an accounting policy choice.

The three sections, and what belongs in each

IAS 7 paragraph 6 defines the three activities, and paragraphs 14 to 17 give the examples.

SectionIAS 7 definitionWhat lands here in a UAE SME
OperatingThe principal revenue-producing activities, and anything that is not investing or financingReceipts from customers, payments to suppliers, payments to and on behalf of employees, income tax paid
InvestingThe acquisition and disposal of long-term assets and other investments not included in cash equivalentsBuying fit-out or vehicles, buying software licences, acquiring a stake in another company, proceeds on disposal
FinancingActivities that change the size and composition of contributed equity and borrowingsShare capital introduced, bank loans drawn and repaid, lease liability principal payments, dividends paid

Two classification points come up constantly in UAE files.

Income tax paid is an operating cash flow under IAS 7 paragraph 14(f), unless it can be specifically identified with a financing or investing transaction. With UAE corporate tax now in its third year of application, this line is no longer nil for most companies.

Lease payments split. Under IFRS 16 the principal element of a lease liability is a financing outflow and the interest element follows your interest policy. A UAE company that capitalised its office lease and then shows the whole rent payment in operating activities has produced a statement that does not agree to its own balance sheet.

Format one: the indirect method

This is the format used in almost every set of UAE audited accounts, because it can be built from a trial balance and two balance sheets without touching the bank statements.

Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 December2025 (AED)2024 (AED)
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before tax802,000807,000
Adjustments for depreciation of property, plant and equipment235,000228,000
Adjustments for depreciation of right-of-use assets160,000160,000
Impairment loss on trade receivables95,00060,000
Provision for employees’ end-of-service benefits78,00066,000
Finance costs118,00096,000
Operating profit before working capital changes1,488,0001,417,000
Increase in inventories(440,000)(185,000)
Increase in trade and other receivables(855,000)(410,000)
Increase in amounts due from related parties(150,000)(60,000)
Increase in trade and other payables475,000300,000
Cash generated from operations518,0001,062,000
End-of-service benefits paid(33,000)(24,000)
Corporate tax paid(55,000)
Net cash from operating activities430,0001,038,000
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment(152,000)(310,000)
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment7,00018,000
Net cash used in investing activities(145,000)(292,000)
Cash flows from financing activities
Repayment of bank term loan(350,000)(350,000)
Principal element of lease payments(155,000)(145,000)
Interest paid(118,000)(96,000)
Dividends paid(142,000)
Net cash used in financing activities(765,000)(591,000)
Net movement in cash and cash equivalents(480,000)155,000
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 January1,120,000965,000
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December640,0001,120,000

Read what that statement actually says. The company made AED 802,000 before tax and its bank balance fell by AED 480,000. Operating cash dropped from AED 1,038,000 to AED 430,000, and the reason is visible on three lines: stock up AED 440,000, receivables up AED 855,000, related-party balances up AED 150,000. Trading was profitable; the profit went into working capital and a related company.

That is the diagnosis. No ratio produces it and no profit and loss statement shows it.

Three

Activity classifications IAS 7 requires on the face of a statement of cash flows — operating, investing and financing

Source: IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows, paragraph 10

Format two: the direct method

IAS 7 paragraph 18(a) describes it as disclosing major classes of gross cash receipts and gross cash payments. Paragraph 19 encourages it, because it gives information useful for estimating future cash flows that the indirect method simply does not contain.

Cash flows from operating activities, direct method2025 (AED)
Cash receipts from customers13,650,000
Cash paid to suppliers(10,185,000)
Cash paid to and on behalf of employees(2,947,000)
Other operating cash payments(88,000)
Cash generated from operations430,000
Corporate tax paid(55,000)
End-of-service benefits paid(33,000)
Net finance costs paid, presented in operating activities where that policy is adopted
Net cash from operating activities342,000

The investing and financing sections are identical under both methods, and both methods reach the same net movement in cash. The difference is only in how the operating section is built. Where a UAE company’s bank feeds are properly categorised in the accounting system, the direct method costs almost nothing extra to produce and tells the reader considerably more.

The indirect method survives not because it is better but because it can be produced without anyone opening a bank statement. That is also its weakness.

— Why the indirect method dominates in practice

Building the statement from your own ledger

The indirect method needs three inputs and one discipline.

InputWhere it comes fromWhat it supplies
Profit before taxCurrent-year profit and loss statementThe starting figure
Two balance sheetsCurrent and prior yearEvery working capital movement
Fixed asset registerCost, additions, disposals, depreciationInvesting section and the depreciation add-back
Loan and lease schedulesBank and lessor statementsFinancing section, split principal from interest

The discipline is that the closing cash figure must agree to the bank. If it does not, the difference is almost always one of four things: an inter-account transfer counted twice, a non-cash addition to fixed assets such as an asset acquired under a lease, a foreign exchange movement on a currency account, or a provision movement that was never added back.

Common reconciliation breakThe fix
Transfer between two company accounts shown as a receiptNet internal transfers before building the statement
Asset acquired under a lease shown as a cash purchaseDisclose as a non-cash transaction, per IAS 7 paragraph 43
Foreign currency bank accountPresent the effect of exchange rate changes separately, per IAS 7 paragraph 28
End-of-service provision movement missedAdd back the charge, deduct the amount actually paid

The three UAE reasons cash and profit diverge

Receivables stretching. A company that grants 60-day terms and collects in 95 has lent five weeks of revenue to its customers. The profit and loss statement records the sale; the cash flow statement records the loan. Our note on days sales outstanding for UAE SMEs sets out how to measure the drift, and AR and AP ageing report format covers the schedule that has to support it.

Stock building. Cash converted into goods is invisible in profit until the goods sell. In UAE trading businesses with long shipping lead times, an ordinary decision to hold one extra month of cover can absorb a quarter’s profit without anybody deciding to spend it.

Capital expenditure funded from working capital. Fit-out, vehicles and equipment leave the bank in full and reach the profit and loss statement one year at a time as depreciation. A company that has spent AED 400,000 on a new warehouse fit-out will see AED 80,000 of it in profit and all AED 400,000 of it in the cash flow statement.

There is a fourth, less comfortable possibility. Cash that never arrives may mean profit that was never earned — revenue recognised on work not yet delivered, or costs that were never accrued. The cash flow statement is where that first becomes visible, usually a year before anyone admits it.

The UAE working capital cycle, and where the cash actually sits

Operating cash flow is the sum of four timing decisions, and in most UAE SMEs three of them were never decided at all — they were inherited from whatever the first big customer insisted on.

Stage of the cycleThe question it answersWhere it shows up in the statement
Supplier payment termsHow long you hold your suppliers’ moneyMovement in trade payables
Inventory holding periodHow long cash sits as goodsMovement in inventories
Customer credit terms grantedHow long you fund your customersMovement in trade receivables
Actual collection performanceWhether those terms are honouredThe same line, and the reason it moves

The last two are different questions and businesses routinely conflate them. Granting 30-day terms and collecting in 78 days is not a pricing problem; it is a collections problem, and the fix is administrative rather than commercial. Our note on days sales outstanding for UAE SMEs sets out how to measure the gap between the two before deciding which one to attack.

There is a UAE-specific wrinkle worth naming. VAT is collected from customers and paid to the Federal Tax Authority within 28 days of the end of a three-month tax period, under Articles 62 and 64 of the VAT Executive Regulation. A business that has invoiced AED 4,000,000 in a quarter has collected AED 200,000 of output tax that is not its money, and if the customers have not paid by the filing date, that AED 200,000 leaves the bank anyway. The cash flow statement shows the consequence; the working capital schedule shows the cause.

Sector notes: what drives the cash gap in different UAE businesses

Business typeWhere the cash goesThe line to watch on the statement
Dubai trading and distributionStock bought ahead of demand, long shipping lead timesIncrease in inventories
UAE contracting and fit-outRetentions held for a year or more after completionIncrease in trade and other receivables
Professional servicesWork delivered months before it is invoicedMovement in accrued income within receivables
Retail across several emiratesFit-out for new outlets, funded from tradingPurchase of property, plant and equipment
Logistics and freightDisbursements paid for customers before rechargeIncrease in trade and other receivables
Group structuresCash advanced to affiliates in Abu Dhabi or SharjahIncrease in amounts due from related parties

Contracting deserves the longest look. A UAE contractor with AED 12,000,000 of annual revenue and a 5 per cent retention held for twelve months after practical completion has permanently lent AED 600,000 to its customers. That amount never appears as a problem in the profit and loss statement, because the revenue was recognised and the margin was earned. It appears here, in the receivables movement, every single year.

Group structures are the second. Money advanced to an affiliate is an outflow the business cannot spend, and pooling it inside trade receivables makes the operating section describe a business that does not exist. Present it separately, in both the balance sheet and the working capital movements, and the statement starts telling the truth.

What a UAE lender does with this statement

The Central Bank of the UAE’s Credit Risk Management Standards, issued as C 3/2024 and effective from 30 November 2024, require licensed financial institutions to collect comprehensive financial information and cash flow projections from obligors, and to have a formal documented process ensuring that the financial analysis of an obligor is based on financial statements audited by reputable auditing firms.

Individual banks then publish their own document lists, and those lists vary far more than people assume. Checked 5 August 2026.

Bank and productWhat the bank publishes about financial statementsSource
Emirates NBD, working capital financeSix months of bank statements and “Audited Financials (where applicable)”; no number of years publishedemiratesnbd.com working capital page
ADIB, working capital finance”3 Years Audit financial statement” plus twelve months of bank statementsadib.ae working capital finance page
CBD, business instalment loanStates plainly that there is no requirement for audited financial statements; twelve months of bank statements insteadcbd.ae business instalment loan page
RAKBANK, business loanBank statements and VAT filings; the word audited does not appear on the pagerakbank.ae business loan page
ADCB, corporate term loanEligibility calculated on the company’s financial statements; no number of years and no reference to auditadcb.com corporate term loan page

Two honest observations follow from that table. First, most UAE banks do not publish a financial-statement requirement at all for account opening, and several publish none for lending either — so any blog telling you that UAE banks universally demand three years of audited accounts is inventing a rule. Second, where a bank does publish one, the requirements genuinely conflict, so the only reliable answer is the one on your own bank’s product page on the day you apply.

What does not vary is what makes a pack fail. Our note on why UAE business bank account applications get refused covers the pattern.

Monthly cash flow, and why the annual statement is too late

An annual cash flow statement tells you what happened eleven months ago. The same three sections produced monthly, alongside a thirteen-week forward view, is the earliest warning system a UAE SME has.

Annual statement of cash flowsMonthly cash view
BasisIAS 7, historicalNo standard, management judgement
PurposeReporting to outsidersDeciding what to do next
TimingMonths after the year endWithin ten working days of month end
Includes a forecastNoYes, and that is most of its value
Required by lawAs part of a complete setNot at all

The forward-looking companion to this page is our guide to cash flow forecasting for UAE SMEs, which covers the thirteen-week model and how to keep it honest.

When a UAE company must produce one, and when it need not

There is no UAE instrument that says “prepare a statement of cash flows”. The obligation arrives indirectly, through the definition of a complete set of financial statements, and it is worth being precise about that rather than overstating it.

SituationIs a cash flow statement requiredSource of the answer
Audited financial statements under IFRSYes, it is part of a complete setIAS 1 paragraph 10(d)
Financial statements for UAE corporate taxYes, within the defined complete setMinisterial Decision No. 114 of 2023, Article 1
Revenue above AED 50,000,000, or any Qualifying Free Zone PersonYes, because audited statements are requiredMinisterial Decision No. 84 of 2025, Article 2
Statements prepared on the cash basis at revenue up to AED 3,000,000Not meaningfully; the whole set is cash-basedMinisterial Decision No. 114 of 2023, Article 2(1)
Internal management accountsNo requirement of any kindNone
A free zone licence renewal packDepends entirely on the zone’s own rulesEach authority’s own regulations

That last row is deliberately unhelpful, because a single answer would be wrong. Free zone authorities across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah set their own financial reporting conditions, several publish nothing at all, and the only reliable source is the zone’s own portal on the day you renew. Our note on whether free zone companies need an audit sets out where each requirement actually comes from.

Producing the statement when the numbers live in several places

Most UAE SMEs do not have one system. They have an accounting package, a bank portal for each of three or four AED and foreign currency accounts, a payroll file that feeds the WPS, and a spreadsheet somebody maintains for the loan. The cash flow statement is where those sources have to agree, which is why it is the last statement produced and the first one to break.

SourceWhat it must supplyThe failure that shows up in the statement
Accounting packageProfit before tax and both balance sheetsAdjustments posted to the prior year after it was closed
UAE bank portalsClosing balance for every accountA dormant AED account nobody reconciled
Foreign currency accountsBalances and the rates usedExchange movement absorbed into operating cash
Fixed asset registerAdditions, disposals, depreciationA non-cash addition shown as a cash purchase
Loan and lease schedulesPrincipal and interest splitThe whole payment shown as an operating outflow
Payroll and WPS recordsAmounts actually paid to staffEnd-of-service payments netted against the provision charge

The practical rule is that the closing cash figure must equal the sum of every bank balance and every cash float, on the same date, with no reconciling items. A UAE company running eight outlets across Dubai and Sharjah with daily takings needs a cash-in-transit account that clears, or that figure is an estimate and the whole statement inherits the uncertainty.

Record retention behind the cash flow statement

Every line of this statement is supported by a bank statement, an invoice or a loan schedule. Four retention rules run alongside each other and the longest applicable one governs. Checked 5 August 2026.

RulePeriodSource
Accounting registers at the head officeAt least 5 years from the end of the financial yearFederal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021, Article 26(2)
Records of a taxable person5 years following the tax periodCabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, Article 3(1)(a)
Real estate records, general7 years from the end of the calendar year createdCabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023, Article 3(1)(c)
Corporate tax records7 years following the end of the tax periodFederal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Article 56(1)
Real estate records, VAT15 years after the end of the tax periodVAT Executive Regulation, Article 71(2), as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2024

Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023 adds four further years where a dispute with the FTA is open or a tax audit is under way, and one further year where a voluntary disclosure is filed in the fifth year after a tax period.

The mistakes that show up in UAE cash flow statements

Internal transfers presented as receipts and payments. A company with four bank accounts and no netting will report an operating inflow that never existed.

The lease shown twice. The right-of-use asset is depreciated in the profit and loss statement and the lease payment appears in full in operating activities, so the same cost is counted in two places.

Non-cash transactions included. IAS 7 paragraph 43 requires investing and financing transactions that do not use cash to be excluded from the statement and disclosed elsewhere. An asset acquired under a finance arrangement is the usual offender.

Related-party movements buried in working capital. Money advanced to a company under common control is not a receivable movement in any meaningful sense, and hiding it inside trade receivables makes the operating section meaningless.

Interest classified inconsistently. IAS 7 permits a choice, but it must be applied consistently and disclosed. Switching between years without restating the comparative destroys the only comparison worth making.

Getting the statement right, in order

  1. Close the ledger and reconcile every bank account to a statement.
  2. Net internal transfers so they never reach the statement.
  3. Agree the fixed asset register to the balance sheet and identify non-cash additions.
  4. Split loan and lease payments into principal and interest from the lender’s schedule.
  5. Add back every non-cash charge — depreciation, amortisation, impairment, provision movements.
  6. Deduct the amounts actually paid for tax and for end-of-service benefits.
  7. Prove the closing figure against the bank, and investigate any difference rather than plugging it.
  8. Write down the interest and dividend classification policy and reuse it next year.

Our accounting and bookkeeping service is built to keep the ledger in a state where that list takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight, and our audit assistance service prepares the supporting schedules when the auditor is already in the file. We prepare and support financial statements; we do not audit them, and we are not a tax agent or an FTA representative.

For the complete picture — the five statements, who must have them audited, and how free zone requirements differ — start at UAE financial statement templates and formats. The two statements this one bridges are covered in balance sheet format and profit and loss statement format, and the worksheet behind all three is set out in trial balance format.

Want a cash flow statement that agrees to the bank and explains the gap to a lender? Get a quote.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cash flow statement?
A cash flow statement is one of the five financial statements. It reports the actual movement of cash and cash equivalents over a period and explains why that movement differs from the reported profit. IAS 7 paragraph 10 requires the cash flows to be classified into three activities: operating, which are the principal revenue-producing activities; investing, which is the acquisition and disposal of long-term assets and other investments; and financing, which changes the size and composition of contributed equity and borrowings. The statement ends by reconciling the opening and closing balance of cash and cash equivalents, which should agree to the balance sheet.
What is the format of a cash flow statement?
Three sections in a fixed order — operating, investing, financing — followed by the net movement in cash, the opening cash balance and the closing cash balance. Within the operating section IAS 7 paragraph 18 allows two presentations. The direct method lists major classes of gross cash receipts and gross cash payments. The indirect method starts from profit or loss and adjusts for non-cash items and for movements in working capital. The investing and financing sections are presented the same way under both methods.
Direct or indirect method — which should a UAE company use?
Almost all UAE companies use the indirect method, because it can be built from the trial balance and the comparative balance sheet without any additional analysis. IAS 7 paragraph 19 encourages the direct method, on the basis that gross receipts and payments help users estimate future cash flows in a way the indirect method cannot. Both are permitted. If your accounting system tags cash receipts and payments cleanly, the direct method is genuinely more useful; if it does not, producing it means rebuilding a year of banking, and the indirect method gives the same net figure.
What counts as cash and cash equivalents?
IAS 7 paragraph 6 defines cash as cash on hand and demand deposits, and cash equivalents as short-term, highly liquid investments readily convertible to known amounts of cash and subject to an insignificant risk of change in value. Paragraph 7 adds the practical test: an investment normally qualifies only where it has a short maturity of, say, three months or less from the date of acquisition, and equity investments are excluded unless in substance they are cash equivalents. A twelve-month fixed deposit is therefore not a cash equivalent, even though the bank calls it liquid.
Is a cash flow statement mandatory in the UAE?
It is part of a complete set of financial statements, and a complete set is what UAE corporate tax works from. Article 1 of Ministerial Decision No. 114 of 2023 defines financial statements as a complete set under the accounting standards applied, including the cash flow statement, and Article 20 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 makes those statements the basis for taxable income. Where audited financial statements are required — over AED 50,000,000 of revenue, or for any Qualifying Free Zone Person, under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 — the audited set will include it. A small company preparing unaudited management accounts may omit it, and many do.
Where do interest and tax payments go in a cash flow statement?
IAS 7 gives a choice on interest and dividends, provided it is applied consistently and disclosed. Interest paid is commonly presented within operating activities, on the basis that it enters the determination of profit, but it may be shown as financing. Tax cash flows are classified as operating under IAS 7 paragraph 14(f) unless they can be specifically identified with a financing or investing transaction. Whichever policy you pick, state it in the notes and do not change it between years without restating the comparative.
Why does my profit not match my bank balance?
In a UAE SME the answer is nearly always one of three things, and the cash flow statement separates them. Receivables have stretched, so profit is sitting with customers. Stock has built, so cash has been converted into goods that have not sold. Or equipment, fit-out or vehicles have been bought out of working capital, which is an investing outflow that never touches the profit figure except through depreciation. A fourth possibility is that the profit is not real — revenue recognised on work not delivered, or costs not yet accrued — and the statement will surface that too.
How do I build a cash flow statement from a trial balance?
You need three inputs: the current profit and loss statement, this year's and last year's balance sheets, and a short list of non-cash items. Start with profit before tax, add back depreciation, amortisation, impairment and any provision movement, then adjust for the change in inventories, receivables and payables between the two balance sheets. That gives cash generated from operations. Deduct tax paid and interest paid, add the investing movements from the fixed asset register, add the financing movements from loan and equity accounts, and the total should equal the actual movement in the bank balance. If it does not, the difference is a missing non-cash item or a misclassified transfer.
What does negative operating cash flow mean for a UAE business?
It means the trading itself consumed cash during the period. For a fast-growing company that can be entirely normal, because growth funds receivables and stock before it produces collections. For a stable company it is a warning, because there is no growth explanation available. The question to ask is which working capital line moved. Negative operating cash flow caused by a single large customer paying late is a collections problem; negative operating cash flow caused by margin erosion is a business model problem, and only one of the two fixes itself.
Does the cash flow statement need comparatives?
Yes. IAS 1 paragraph 38 requires comparative information for all amounts reported, and paragraph 38A sets the minimum at two statements of cash flows alongside two of every other statement. A single-year cash flow statement tells you what happened; two years tell you whether it is a pattern. Banks in the UAE reviewing a credit application generally want two or three years, which is a commercial requirement on top of the accounting one.
How long must I keep the records behind a UAE cash flow statement?
The longest applicable period governs. Article 26 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 requires accounting registers at the head office for at least five years from the end of the financial year. Article 3 of Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2023 requires five years after the tax period for a taxable person and seven years for real estate records. Article 56 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 requires seven years for corporate tax. Article 71(2) of the VAT Executive Regulation requires fifteen years for records relating to real estate. Bank statements sit behind every line of this statement, so retain them on the same schedule.
Is a cash flow statement the same as a cash flow forecast?
No, and confusing them causes real problems. A cash flow statement is historical, prepared under IAS 7, and reports cash that has already moved. A cash flow forecast is forward-looking, follows no standard, and is a management tool. A bank will usually want both: the statement to confirm what the business has done, and the forecast to test whether it can service what it is asking to borrow. The statement is evidence; the forecast is an argument.

Filed under: cash flow statement, cash flow statement format, statement of cash flows, IAS 7, IFRS, financial statements, UAE accounting, working capital

Published · Updated