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Financial Audit Authority Dubai — What It Does and Who It Actually Audits
The Financial Audit Authority Dubai audits government entities under Law No. 4 of 2018. Who it covers, its powers, and what private companies need instead.
Key takeaways
- Legal basis — Law No. (4) of 2018 concerning the Financial Audit Authority, issued by the Ruler of Dubai, replacing Law No. (8) of 2010 and amended by Law No. 24 of 2024.
- Mandate — the FAA states it provides independent, objective and timely oversight of public resources to ensure accountability, compliance and optimal performance.
- Three audit lines — financial and compliance audit, performance audit and assessment, and digital and technology audit.
- Counterparts — the UAE Accountability Authority covers federal entities; the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority covers Abu Dhabi's public sector.
- Not for private firms — statutory audits of private companies are signed by auditors regulated under Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 on the Regulation of the Auditing Profession.
- Where SMEs meet it — as suppliers, concession holders or JV partners of government entities, where public money flows through your contracts and your paperwork gets read.
Short answer. The Financial Audit Authority is the Government of Dubai’s public-sector auditor, established by Law No. (4) of 2018 and amended by Law No. 24 of 2024. It audits Dubai government departments, public agencies and corporations, and government-owned companies. It does not audit private companies and will never sign your financial statements.
The Financial Audit Authority is one of the most searched and most misunderstood institutions in Dubai’s regulatory landscape. Business owners find the name, assume it is the body that audits or disciplines companies in Dubai, and start looking for a filing obligation that does not exist. The FAA is the emirate’s government auditor — the watchdog over public funds, answerable within the Dubai government structure rather than to the entities it examines.
This guide explains what the Authority actually does, who falls inside its jurisdiction, how it sits alongside the federal and Abu Dhabi bodies, and then answers the question most people arriving here really have: who does audit a private Dubai company, and what changes when your customer is the government.
What the Financial Audit Authority is
The FAA is Dubai’s public-sector audit institution — the emirate-level equivalent of a national audit office. The term has a precise meaning under the international standards that govern public-sector auditing, and we set out what a supreme audit institution is, the independence principles such a body has to meet, and how the UAE’s federal and emirate bodies map onto the concept.
Its current legal foundation is Law No. (4) of 2018 concerning the Financial Audit Authority, issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. That law replaced Law No. (8) of 2010 concerning the Financial Audit Department and its amendments, and transferred all the rights and obligations of the former Department to the new Authority. Law No. 24 of 2024 later amended Articles 34, 35 and 36.
The design logic is independence. The body that audits government entities cannot sit inside the structure it audits, and the Authority describes itself as an independent public authority with a mandate to audit public funds and promote accountability, transparency and integrity.
| Instrument | What it did | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Law No. (8) of 2010 | Established the Financial Audit Department | 2010 |
| Law No. (4) of 2018 | Replaced the 2010 law; established the Financial Audit Authority | 2018 |
| Law No. 24 of 2024 | Amended Articles 34, 35 and 36 on violations, penalties and grievances | 2024 |
Sources: the Financial Audit Authority’s own news release on the issuance of Law No. (4) of 2018, and the Dubai Government media release on the 2024 amendment. Last verified 4 August 2026.
What the Authority actually does
Its stated mission is to provide independent, objective and timely oversight of public resources to ensure accountability, compliance and optimal performance. In practice that breaks into three published audit lines plus advisory work.
| Audit line | What it examines |
|---|---|
| Financial and compliance audit | Whether operations adhere to financial and regulatory standards |
| Performance audit and assessment | The efficiency and effectiveness of duties and activities |
| Digital and technology audit | The efficiency and effectiveness of digital systems and technology implementations |
| Consulting, assessments and specialised audits | Other work assigned within the Authority’s mandate |
Source: the Financial Audit Authority’s published description of its services. Last verified 4 August 2026.
The third line is the one worth noticing, because it is unusual for a public audit body to publish digital and technology audit as a headline capability rather than as a component of financial audit. For a government supplier, it means system integrations, data handling and platform implementations sold into Dubai government entities can be examined on their own terms, not just as a line of spend.
Alongside the audit lines, the establishing law gives the Authority a set of specific duties: reviewing and auditing unified financial statements; issuing regulations governing the preparation and presentation of financial statements and reports and the General Final Account of the Government; investigating financial or administrative irregularities discovered by the Authority or by entities under its control; verifying complaints about potential abuses; and providing financial and accounting expertise to entities under its control where assigned.
Who falls inside FAA jurisdiction
The auditable universe runs wider than “ministries”. Based on the Authority’s own description of its scope, it covers government departments, public agencies and corporations, government-owned companies and other public entities within its designated audit universe.
- Government departments — the core civil administration of the emirate of Dubai.
- Public agencies and corporations — bodies created under Dubai law to run public functions.
- Government-owned companies — commercial entities with Government of Dubai ownership.
- Other entities within the designated audit universe — as determined under the law and its implementing decisions.
That last category is the quiet one that touches the private sector. A facilities company running a government concession, a joint venture with a government entity, or a contractor holding advance public funds can find the money it touches sitting inside an auditable trail — with the record-keeping expectations that implies.
What changed with the 2024 amendment
Law No. 24 of 2024 replaced Articles 34, 35 and 36 of the 2018 law. The Dubai Government media release describes the changes as giving the Director-General authority over the handling of violations, including suspending matters, confiscating relevant documents or dismissing investigations, and establishing procedures that include travel bans, asset freezes for a limited period, and settlement options.
It also established an independent Central Violations Committee of three members to review compliance cases and violations by senior officials, and a permanent Grievances Committee within the Authority to review employee and official grievances about disciplinary penalties, with decisions final but subject to judicial review.
For a private-sector reader, none of this creates an obligation. It matters only as context: the enforcement architecture around Dubai public funds got sharper in 2024, and government entities have become correspondingly more careful about the documentation they hold on their suppliers.
Law No. 4 of 2018
The Dubai law establishing the Financial Audit Authority, replacing Law No. 8 of 2010 on the Financial Audit Department
The map of audit bodies in the UAE — who audits whom
| Body | Level | Audits |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Audit Authority | Emirate of Dubai | Dubai government departments, public agencies and corporations, government-owned companies |
| UAE Accountability Authority | Federal | Federal ministries, authorities and entities with federal ownership; successor to the State Audit Institution |
| Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority | Emirate of Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi government entities and companies with government ownership |
| Auditing profession framework under Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 | Federal, private sector | Regulates the profession — the firms that audit private companies |
| Free zone and financial centre regimes | Zone level | Approved-auditor lists in zones such as DMCC and JAFZA; registered-auditor regimes in the DIFC and ADGM |
Compiled 4 August 2026. The Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 reference is the instrument the Federal Tax Authority itself cites when asking, in the corporate tax return, whether financial statements were audited.
The bottom two rows are where private businesses live. Your statutory auditor is a private firm regulated under the federal auditing profession framework or approved by your zone. The tiers of that market are mapped in our Big 4 audit firms in Dubai guide, and the selection mechanics in how to choose an auditor in Dubai.
What private companies actually need
If you arrived here looking for “the authority that audits companies in Dubai”, the real requirements stack up like this.
| Trigger | Requirement | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| Being a joint stock company or limited liability company | One or more auditors auditing the accounts yearly | Article 27, Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 |
| Preparing annual accounts | Apply International Accounting Standards and Practices | Article 27(3), Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 |
| Keeping accounting registers | At the head office for at least five years from the end of the fiscal year | Article 26(2), Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 |
| Corporate tax revenue above AED 50,000,000 | Audited financial statements | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 |
| Being a Qualifying Free Zone Person | Audited financial statements regardless of revenue | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 |
| Being a tax group | Audited special purpose financial statements in the FTA’s specified form | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 |
| Free zone licence renewal | Zone-specific audited accounts requirement | The zone’s own rules |
Last verified 4 August 2026 against the published texts of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 and Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025.
The free zone line is the one that catches people. Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires audited financial statements from every Qualifying Free Zone Person irrespective of revenue. A free zone company with AED 4 million of turnover claiming 0% on qualifying income is inside the audit requirement, while a mainland company with AED 40 million of turnover is not — at least not by that route. Our note on whether free zone companies need an audit in the UAE works through the zone-by-zone position, and the difference between the statutory opinion and a controls review is unpacked in external vs internal audit UAE.
Dubai’s audit architecture has a clean logic. The Financial Audit Authority watches public money. The federal profession framework governs the firms that watch private companies. The corporate tax law decides who must be watched annually. Obligations under the three are not interchangeable, and the search results do not make that obvious.
Selling to the government — where the FAA quietly reaches you
Here is the practical angle for SMEs, and the reason this page exists on an accounting firm’s site at all. Dubai government entities procure at enormous scale, and every dirham they spend sits inside an auditable process on their side. When the Authority examines a government entity’s procurement, the evidence includes your documents as held by that entity: the tender submission, the contract and its variations, the purchase orders, your invoices, and the delivery and acceptance records.
Three consequences follow for suppliers and contractors.
- Paperwork symmetry. If the entity’s file and your file disagree, the query lands on the entity, and the entity’s next call is to you. Invoices that match purchase orders, delivery notes signed and archived, and variations documented in writing are your side of an audit trail someone else will be tested on.
- Payment discipline cuts both ways. Government payment cycles run on certified paperwork. The suppliers who get paid on time are the ones whose documents certify cleanly the first time, without a round of corrections.
- Public-money handling. If your contract involves holding or managing public funds — advances, collections on behalf of an entity, concession revenue — keep those flows segregated and reconciled monthly. This is the scenario where a private company’s records can be examined directly in connection with public money.
The supplier’s audit-readiness checklist
The controls that protect you in a government procurement audit are the same ones that make a statutory audit cheap, which is a rare case of compliance work paying twice.
| Document | What good looks like | Why it gets tested |
|---|---|---|
| Signed contract and every variation | Complete, dated, signed by an authorised person on both sides | Scope disputes surface years later |
| Purchase order matched to invoice | Amount, description and PO number all agree | The most common source of a query |
| Delivery or acceptance evidence | Signed by the receiving entity, dated, archived | Proof the entity got what it paid for |
| Timesheets or milestone records | Contemporaneous, not reconstructed | Performance audits test value, not just legality |
| Bank evidence of receipts | Reconciled to the ledger monthly | Traces public money end to end |
| Segregated accounts for held public funds | Separate ledger and separate bank where required | Commingling is the finding nobody recovers from cleanly |
Compiled 4 August 2026 as practical guidance based on ordinary procurement practice. It is not a document list published by the Financial Audit Authority.
What goes wrong for suppliers, and what it costs
None of these are exotic. All of them are recoverable if caught early and expensive if caught late.
- The contract file is incomplete. A variation agreed by email and never papered becomes a scope dispute when someone with no memory of the conversation reads the file.
- Invoices do not tie to purchase orders. A description that differs from the PO, or an amount split across two invoices, generates a query that stalls payment.
- Delivery evidence is missing. The goods went, everyone remembers them going, and there is no signed acceptance. The entity cannot certify what it cannot evidence.
- Public funds are commingled. Advance payments sitting in the general operating account are the finding that turns a routine query into a serious one.
- Records were not kept. Article 26 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 sets a five-year floor on accounting registers. A query about a project from four years ago is entirely normal.
Preparing for your own statutory audit
Separate from anything government-related, most Dubai companies eventually need their own audit — because the Commercial Companies Law requires it, because a free zone asks at renewal, or because corporate tax triggers it. The work that makes an audit fast is done before the auditor arrives.
| Stage | What it involves | When |
|---|---|---|
| Close the books | Bank, receivables, payables, inventory and fixed assets reconciled | Within 30 days of year end |
| Build the audit file | Schedules supporting every balance sheet line | Before fieldwork starts |
| Confirmations | Bank confirmations, customer and supplier balance confirmations | Early, because third parties are slow |
| Draft financial statements | Prepared under the applicable standards with complete notes | Before the auditor’s first review |
| Query management | A single owner responding to the auditor’s list | Throughout fieldwork |
| Corporate tax alignment | Audited figures agreeing to the corporate tax computation | After sign-off, before filing |
A working sequence based on ordinary UAE audit practice, prepared 4 August 2026. Timing varies by auditor and by the complexity of the business.
The last row is the one that trips businesses up in the corporate tax era. The return asks whether audited financial statements were prepared and what the audit opinion was, and the figures in the return need to agree to the ones the auditor signed. Where they do not, the reconciliation has to be documented rather than assumed. Related-party balances are a frequent culprit, which is why the disclosure rules are worth reading in advance — see our guide to related party disclosure for UAE corporate tax.
What the Commercial Companies Law says your auditor must do
Because so many people arrive here confusing the government auditor with the private one, it is worth setting out what a private company’s auditor is actually obliged to do. Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 is specific, and most owner-managers have never read it.
| Article | Obligation |
|---|---|
| Article 245 | A public joint stock company’s auditor is nominated by the board and appointed by the general assembly for one renewable year; the general assembly determines the fees, and the board may not be delegated to do so |
| Article 245 | The same auditing company may not audit for more than six consecutive fiscal years, and the responsible audit partner must change after three fiscal years |
| Article 246 | The auditor must be licensed to practise in the State with at least five years of experience auditing joint stock companies, and must not be a shareholder, board member, officer, or a relative of a founder or board member up to the second degree |
| Article 247 | The report must state whether the accounts were prepared under the Decree-Law and whether they give a fair view of the company’s financial position |
| Article 248 | The auditor must audit the accounts, inspect the balance sheet and profit and loss account, review the company’s transactions with related parties, and verify application of the Decree-Law and the company’s statute |
| Article 248 | The auditor must verify the validity of the accounting registers and their consistency with the accounts, and may review all registers, papers and documents and require explanations |
| Article 249 | The auditor must keep company particulars confidential, and disclosure to third parties is grounds for dismissal without prejudice to civil and criminal liability |
Source: Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies. Article 102 applies the public joint stock company auditor provisions to limited liability companies, with the general assembly of partners electing the auditor annually. Last verified 4 August 2026.
Two of those lines regularly surprise people. Article 248 puts related-party transactions on the auditor’s mandatory checklist — they are not a matter of judgement about materiality. And Article 248(4) obliges the auditor to record in a report to the board any failure to provide facilities to perform the audit, and to escalate to the Authority if the board does not then help. An audit that is being obstructed does not simply stall; it generates its own paper trail.
Where the audit obligation meets the rest of your tax position
Audit is rarely a standalone problem. It sits at the junction of the Commercial Companies Law, the free zone’s rules and the corporate tax law, and the trigger that catches you first depends on which of the three you are closest to.
| Company profile | Likely audit trigger | Practical consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Mainland LLC, AED 6m revenue | Article 27, Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 | Annual auditor appointment; no corporate tax audit trigger |
| Free zone company, AED 4m revenue, claiming 0% | Qualifying Free Zone Person status | Audited financial statements required regardless of revenue |
| Mainland LLC, AED 60m revenue | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 | Audited financial statements required for corporate tax |
| Tax group of three entities | Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 | Audited special purpose financial statements in the FTA’s form |
| Government supplier, any size | Procurement, not statute | Procurement-grade records regardless of audit status |
Positions verified 4 August 2026 against Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 and Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025. Free zone renewal requirements vary by zone and are set by the zone authority.
If your business also trades across the Gulf, the audit position is only one part of a wider compliance map — our GCC tax comparison sets out where the UAE obligations sit relative to the neighbouring states, and if you are weighing up who should handle any of it, our note on choosing a tax consultant in Dubai covers the questions worth asking first.
What the corporate tax return asks about your audit
This is the point where the audit question stops being a companies-law formality and becomes a tax filing item. The Federal Tax Authority’s corporate tax return contains a short block of questions about the audit, and the answers are checkable.
| Return field | What it asks | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Were audited financial statements prepared | Yes or no, pre-populated as “yes” where the thresholds are met | The FTA already knows whether it expects a yes |
| What was the audit opinion | Qualified or unqualified | A qualification is visible to the FTA on the face of the return |
| Name of the auditor | The firm that audited the financial statements | Names a third party that can be contacted |
Source: the Federal Tax Authority’s Corporate Tax Guide on Tax Returns, section 6.2. The guide frames the audit question by reference to Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 on the Regulation of the Auditing Profession and its amendments, read together with Ministerial Resolution No. 403 of 2015 concerning the International Standards for the Auditing Profession. Last verified 4 August 2026.
Three consequences follow from that small block. The audited-accounts question is pre-populated as “yes” for taxable persons above the revenue threshold and for every Qualifying Free Zone Person, so a business that has not had an audit is answering a question the system already expects a particular answer to. A qualified opinion is disclosed on the return rather than buried in a report nobody reads. And naming the auditor gives the Authority a verifiable third party, which raises the cost of an audit that exists only on paper.
The practical implication for a free zone company claiming 0% on qualifying income is worth stating plainly: the audit is not optional, the return asks about it, and the answer is checkable against a named firm.
Public-sector audit versus private-company audit, side by side
The two things people conflate work differently in almost every respect, and seeing them next to each other usually settles the question that brought someone to this page.
| Financial Audit Authority | A private company’s statutory audit | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it examines | Dubai government departments, public agencies and corporations, government-owned companies | The company that appoints it |
| Who appoints | Established by Dubai law; not appointed by the audited entity | The general assembly of shareholders or partners |
| Who pays | Public funding | The audited company |
| What it produces | Findings reported within the Dubai government structure | An audit report stating whether the accounts give a fair view |
| Scope | Financial and compliance, performance, digital and technology | The financial statements and the matters the law puts on the auditor |
| Can it investigate irregularities | Yes, including referral and, since Law No. 24 of 2024, measures such as asset freezes | No — it reports; it does not enforce |
| Does a private company file with it | No | The company receives the report; filing depends on the licensing regime |
| Governing instrument | Law No. (4) of 2018 as amended | Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 and Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 |
Compiled 4 August 2026 from the Financial Audit Authority’s published material and the cited federal legislation.
The row that matters most for an owner-manager is the second. The Financial Audit Authority is not something you engage, appoint, apply to or file with. If you have found this page because you were searching for who audits your company, the answer is a private firm you appoint and pay, and the FAA has no role in it at all.
How Dubai’s public audit function got here
The institution has a longer history than its 2018 law suggests, and the direction of travel explains why government entities have become steadily more demanding about supplier documentation.
| Period | What existed | What it meant for suppliers |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | Government financial control functions inside the Dubai administration | Documentation expectations set entity by entity |
| From 2010 | The Financial Audit Department, under Law No. (8) of 2010 | A single emirate-level audit function with its own law |
| From 2018 | The Financial Audit Authority, under Law No. (4) of 2018, taking over the Department’s rights and obligations | An independent authority, wider mandate, published audit lines |
| From 2024 | Articles 34 to 36 replaced by Law No. 24 of 2024 | A sharper violations and grievances architecture |
Sources: the Financial Audit Authority’s news release on the issuance of Law No. (4) of 2018 and the Government of Dubai media release on the 2024 amendment. Last verified 4 August 2026.
Each step tightened the documentary standard that flows downhill to suppliers. An entity being audited against clearer procedures asks its contractors for cleaner files, and it asks earlier in the cycle rather than at year end. For an SME, the useful read is that the paperwork expectations attached to Dubai government work are structural rather than a phase, and building for them once is cheaper than being surprised annually.
Common misconceptions, corrected
- “The FAA has to approve my auditor.” It does not. Approval of auditors for public joint stock companies sits with the competent authority under Article 246 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021, and free zones maintain their own approved lists.
- “I have to register my company with the FAA.” There is no registration. Its jurisdiction is defined by law over public entities and public funds.
- “FAA reports are public and I can look up a competitor.” Its reporting concerns public funds and runs within the Dubai government structure, not into a public company register.
- “If I win a government contract the FAA will audit me.” It audits the entity, not you. Your paperwork gets read as part of the entity’s file, which is a real consequence but a different one.
- “Audited accounts are only needed above AED 50 million.” That is the corporate tax trigger under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025. Article 27 of the Commercial Companies Law and free zone renewal rules can bite far lower, and every Qualifying Free Zone Person is caught regardless of revenue.
- “An audit and a tax filing are the same exercise.” They are not, and the corporate tax return specifically asks whether audited financial statements were prepared and what the opinion was.
Where Velmont Crest fits in
We sit firmly on the private-sector side of the map. For companies that need their own statutory audit, our audit assistance service in Dubai prepares the ground: closing the books to an auditable standard, building the reconciliations and schedules on the auditor’s list, drafting financial statements under the applicable standards, and managing the query traffic with your registered audit firm. We prepare and support — we do not issue audit opinions, and the signing auditor is always an independently regulated firm.
For businesses supplying government entities, the same discipline doubles as procurement-grade record-keeping: monthly closes through our accounting and bookkeeping service, invoice-to-PO matching, and document archives that can answer a downstream query the same day it arrives rather than three weeks later. If a government contract, a licence renewal or the AED 50 million corporate tax threshold has put audit readiness on your desk, request a quote through the contact page and we will scope it within one UAE business day.
Disclaimer: Velmont Crest is a UAE accounting firm providing advisory, preparation and compliance support. We are not a law firm, an FTA-registered tax agent representing clients before the Federal Tax Authority, a licensed auditor, or a government authority. The institutional and legislative details here were verified on 4 August 2026 against the sources listed below — confirm the current position before acting on any of them.
References
- Financial Audit Authority — Law for Dubai Financial Audit Authority issued
- Financial Audit Authority — official site
- Government of Dubai — amendment to the law establishing the Financial Audit Authority
- Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 on Audited Financial Statements
- UAE Government portal — business regulations
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Financial Audit Authority in Dubai?
- The FAA is the Government of Dubai's public-sector audit body, established in its current form by Law No. (4) of 2018 issued by the Ruler of Dubai. It describes its mission as providing independent, objective and timely oversight of public resources to ensure accountability, compliance and optimal performance, and positions itself as an independent public authority with a mandate to audit public funds and promote accountability, transparency and integrity. Its jurisdiction covers government departments, public agencies and corporations, and government-owned companies.
- Does the Financial Audit Authority audit private companies?
- No, not in the statutory sense. Private companies in the UAE appoint their own external auditors, regulated under Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 on the Regulation of the Auditing Profession, or approved by the relevant free zone or financial centre. The FAA's jurisdiction is public funds. A private company encounters FAA processes only indirectly — as a supplier or contractor to a government entity, as a joint venture partner, or where it holds or manages public money under a concession or agreement.
- What law established the Financial Audit Authority?
- Law No. (4) of 2018, issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. It replaced Law No. (8) of 2010 concerning the Financial Audit Department and its amendments, with all the rights and obligations of the Financial Audit Department transferred to the new Authority. Law No. 24 of 2024 subsequently amended Articles 34, 35 and 36 of the 2018 law, dealing with violation handling procedures, penalties and a permanent grievances committee.
- What kinds of audit does the FAA perform?
- The Authority publishes three main audit lines: financial and compliance audit, which examines operations against financial and regulatory standards; performance audit and assessment, which evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of duties and activities; and digital and technology audit, which assesses digital systems and technology implementations. It also offers consulting services, assessments and other specialised audit types. The last of the three is the one that has grown fastest and is least understood outside government.
- Who audits UAE federal government entities?
- At federal level, oversight sits with the UAE Accountability Authority, which succeeded the State Audit Institution and audits federal ministries, authorities and entities with federal ownership interests. Each emirate can also maintain its own body for its local government: Dubai has the Financial Audit Authority, and Abu Dhabi has the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority, established under its own emirate-level legislation. The three are separate institutions with separate jurisdictions and separate reporting lines.
- What powers does the FAA have?
- Under its establishing law the Authority reviews and audits unified financial statements, issues regulations governing the preparation and presentation of financial statements and reports and the General Final Account of the Government, investigates financial or administrative irregularities discovered by it or by entities under its control, and verifies complaints about potential abuses. Following the Law No. 24 of 2024 amendments, procedures for handling violations include measures such as travel bans, asset freezes for a limited period, and settlement options, administered through a Central Violations Committee.
- My company sells to Dubai government entities — does the FAA affect me?
- Indirectly, and more than most suppliers expect. When the Authority audits a government entity's spending, the trail includes supplier contracts, tenders, invoices, variations and delivery evidence — your paperwork, held on their side of the transaction. A discrepancy lands as a query on the entity, and the entity's next call is to you, often about a project that closed two years earlier. The practical protection is procurement-grade record-keeping: contracts complete and signed, invoices matched to purchase orders and delivery notes, and a ledger that reconciles.
- Who should audit my Dubai SME then?
- An external audit firm regulated under Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 on the Regulation of the Auditing Profession, or a firm on your free zone's approved auditor list. Whether you must be audited at all depends on your situation. Article 27 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 requires every joint stock company and limited liability company to have one or more auditors auditing its accounts yearly. Many free zones require audited accounts at licence renewal. And corporate tax adds a federal trigger of its own.
- When does UAE corporate tax require audited financial statements?
- Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 requires audited financial statements from a taxable person that is not a tax group and derives revenue exceeding AED 50,000,000 in the relevant tax period, and from every Qualifying Free Zone Person regardless of revenue. A tax group must prepare audited special purpose financial statements in the form the Federal Tax Authority specifies. The decision applies to tax periods commencing on or after 1 January 2025 and repealed Ministerial Decision No. 82 of 2023, which continues to apply to earlier periods.
- Is the Financial Audit Authority the same as the Ministry of Economy?
- No. They sit on opposite sides of the map. The Financial Audit Authority is a Dubai government body auditing Dubai public funds. The Ministry of Economy operates at federal level in relation to companies and the regulation of professions including auditing. If you are looking for the body that governs who may sign a private company's audit report, that is the federal auditing profession framework under Federal Law No. 41 of 2023 — not the FAA.
- Does the FAA publish reports on private companies?
- No. Its reporting concerns public funds and the entities within its jurisdiction, and it runs upward within the Dubai government structure rather than into a public register of companies. You will not find an FAA report on a private business, because producing one was never within its mandate. If you are searching for a filed audit report on a UAE private company, that is not a public record in the way it is in some other jurisdictions.
- How long must a UAE company keep its accounting records?
- Article 26 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies requires every company to keep its accounting registers at its head office for a period of at least five years from the end of the company's fiscal year, and permits an electronic copy of the originals to be kept in accordance with controls issued by a decision of the Minister. Tax legislation imposes its own retention obligations on top, so the practical answer for most businesses is to keep everything and to keep it retrievable.
- What accounting standards must a Dubai company apply?
- Article 27(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 requires companies to apply International Accounting Standards and Practices when preparing periodical and annual accounts, so as to give a clear and accurate view of profits and losses. For corporate tax purposes, accounting standards are addressed separately by Ministerial Decision No. 114 of 2023. In practice most UAE businesses prepare under IFRS, with IFRS for SMEs available to smaller entities depending on the requirements of their auditor, bank and free zone.
- Can a shareholder demand a copy of the audited accounts?
- Yes. Article 27(4) of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 gives every partner or shareholder the right, on a written request, to obtain a free copy of the last audited accounts and the last report of the company's auditor, plus a copy of the group accounts if the company is a holding company. The company must respond within ten days of the request being filed. It is a right owner-managers frequently do not know exists until a minority partner exercises it.
Filed under: Financial Audit Authority, Dubai, Government Audit, Public Funds, Audit, Compliance, UAE
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