Top Bookkeeping and Accounting Firms in Dubai (2024)

While having a great business idea and working on it is the foundation stone for a business’s success, bookkeeping ensures its long-term growth and stability. But what is bookkeeping and why is it so important? This article takes you deeper and helps you understand more about bookkeeping, its importance, and its types. 

What is Bookkeeping? 

Bookkeeping is the process of recording a company’s financial transactions on regular basis. In other words the process of making entries about financial transactions in the journal and ledger. It involves recording and organizing all the business transactions that happen during the course of business dealings. All transactions such as tax payments, revenue earned, withdrawal from bank, loans, advances and operational expenses are recorded. Keeping a record of all the transactions helps the company’s management to take operating, investing and financing decisions. 

The main aim of bookkeeping is to ensure good financial health for the business. Bookkeeping is done by bookkeepers who are individuals or companies that manage the entire financial data of the company. This financial data forms the foundation of the business’ growth and decision-making. It involves the preparation of various financial statements that represent the financial situation of the company at a certain point in time or during a specific time period like balance sheet, profit & loss account, cash flow statement etc. 

Importance of Bookkeeping 

By now you must have understood what is bookkeeping. But why is it important for you? Bookkeeping is the foundation of the accounting activities and financial management of any business. Now let us understand the importance of bookkeeping in detail. 

• Helps Prepare a Budget – Since bookkeeping organizes all your financial data, it also helps you to keep a track of your income and expenses. With your financial data organised, you can easily plan your expenses and review your expenses to make a budget. A budget helps you define the roadmap for the growth of your business. Without a properly planned budget, your business can go haywire and your expenses can skyrocket leading to losses. Therefore, bookkeeping plays a major role in leading your business to a path of growth.
• Helps you Calculate and Plan Your Taxes – No matter what business you do, you have to file income tax returns at the end of the year and pay your taxes. But there are various ways in which you can save your taxes ethically. Having your financial data organized and recorded with the help of bookkeeping can help you plan your taxes and determine what deductions you can claim. You can also decide what investments you can make to claim exemptions and deductions and save taxes. It also helps you prepare your financial statements for filing tax returns and for audit purposes.
• Maintains Records – The last-minute hassle of finding important information about your financial records and transactions can leave you unsettled. It can not only result in missed deadlines but also gruesome manual errors which can further lead to huge losses for the business. No matter the size of your business, mistakes cannot be excused and should be avoided at all costs. Having a proper bookkeeping record of your day-to-day financial transactions and regularly reviewing them can help you avoid such unsettling situations and mistakes. It will help you find important information very quickly. You can also take help from bookkeeping firms in Dubai, UAE for managing your financial records.
• Helps Set up Business Targets – Growth and profitability is the ultimate goal of all businesses regardless of their size. An improper or poor accounting record can hinder your overall growth by making it difficult for you to analyze your current financial situation and make plans and targets for the future. With no accurate figures to analyze, you will not be able to set specific targets and your team will find it hard to achieve the goals. Therefore signing up for a good bookkeeping service provider can help you avoid this problem and have your data organized to set up your business targets.
• Meet Government Regulations – As a business owner, you are required to be updated about the government rules and regulations at all times. Governments constantly come up with new initiatives, rules and regulations regarding business reporting to make compliance easy and to ensure greater transparency among the government and the businesses. Having a proper bookkeeping or accounting record of your daily transactions can help you comply with government regulations, keep track of the changes in tax policies, and other business policies and help avoid any future complications.
• Facilitates Decision Making – Not having accurate numbers of your business’s performance makes it difficult to make crucial decisions. In the absence of any relevant data to analyze, you can end up making wrong business decisions thus making big losses. Having a record of all the business transactions and knowing the current financial situation of your business helps you take the correct decisions. For example, if you already have a high debt-equity ratio, you can avoid taking any further loans. On the other hand, if you do not have a record of your debt and equity situation, you might end up taking more loans pushing yourself further into the debt trap.
• Promotes Learning and Increases Peace of Mind – Looming tax deadlines, changing governmental regulations, constant losses, misguided decision-making, and errors can contribute to a lot of stress and anxiety. This not only affects your peace of mind but also affects the overall performance of your business. Therefore, having properly recorded and organised books of accounts is crucial as it can help avoid stress and anxiety, and promote greater peace of mind. It also helps you fill in the gaps in your knowledge about the financial condition of your business, your expenses, revenues, taxes etc. 

Difference between Bookkeeping and Accounting

While the words ‘bookkeeping’ and ‘accounting’ are often used interchangeably, they are different. Given below is the difference between bookkeeping and accounting. 

Bookkeeping	Accounting
Bookkeeping forms a foundation for the advanced accounting of firms.	Accounting involves the development of financial reports and statements. It uses the information provided by bookkeeping to create analyzable financial statements.
Bookkeeping is the base or the starting point.	Accounting starts where bookkeeping ends.
The outcome of bookkeeping is used for accounting purposes.	The outcome of accounting activities is used to make informed decisions and facilitate the company’s growth.
The objective of bookkeeping is to maintain a chronological record of the day-to-day financial transactions of the business.	The purpose of accounting is to present the current financial situation of the business.
Bookkeeping summarises all the financial transactions of a business for a specific period of time.	Accounting interprets and analyzes this financial information for decision-making purposes.
Bookkeeping is done in accordance with accounting conventions.	Accounting methods and procedures can vary frm company to company.

Types of Bookkeeping 

Bookkeeping is largely classified into two types – single-entry bookkeeping and double-entry bookkeeping. Let us understand them in detail. 

Single-Entry Bookkeeping 

Single-entry bookkeeping is similar to maintaining a cheque register. In this method, the entry is made when the transaction is completed. For example, if you purchase a product today and make the payment immediately, it will be recorded. On the contrary, if you make the payment after a month, the entry will be made only when the payment is made in cash. It records transactions only when any cash is paid or received. 

It is generally used by those companies that use cash-based accounting instead of accrual accounting. This method is easy to learn and does not require much professional expertise. It can be beneficial for small companies that do not have many resources to get third-party help. 

On the downside, this method is not very accurate and does not present the true financial position of any company. Most businesses, whether small or big, have to use the accrual basis making single-entry bookkeeping less relevant. 

Double Entry Bookkeeping

Most companies use double-entry bookkeeping. In this method, two entries are made. While one account is debited, the other is credited. The debit section and the credit section should be equal at the end of the financial cycle. 

The double-entry method helps minimize financial fraud and involves the preparation of a trial balance which makes bookkeeping simpler. This method is more accurate and helps you compare your financial situation in different periods. 

Qualities of a Good Bookkeeper 

Finding good bookkeeping services can be challenging. Here are some of the qualities that you must consider looking for before finding a bookkeeping firm in Dubai, UAE. 

• Good sense of working with numbers – Bookkeepers have to be around numbers and deal with a huge number of transactions every day, which means numbers everywhere. Therefore a bookkeeper must be very comfortable dealing with numbers and should enjoy doing it. Although they are not required to be professional mathematicians, they should be good with basic mathematical functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Moreover, tools like calculators and spreadsheets also help bookkeepers.
• Organizational and time management skills – A bookkeeper is not only responsible for handling pre-planned activities but also catering to last-minute requests. This requires good organizational and time management skills. Bookkeepers should be able to prioritize their tasks and organize them. This will help you have a clear idea of approaching deadlines.
• Attention to detail – In order to make correct data entry without making many errors, the bookkeeper must be someone who has very high attention to detail. There are a lot of tasks to be performed by a bookkeeper simultaneously. This makes it important for them to have high concentration levels and a great focus on details.
• Knowledge of accounting conventions and concepts – The bookkeepers should have very good knowledge of the accounting principles, methods and conventions. A professional certificate in accounting can be very helpful. Also, it is important to understand the state-specific policies depending on the country where you reside. So if you are looking for bookkeeping firms in Dubai, UAE, you should make sure that they have a good experience and knowledge of accounting concepts.
• Stay updated with the changes in governmental policies – Another important skill that you should look for in bookkeepers is that they should always stay updated with the government rules and regulations, tax policies, business regulations etc. They should be open to learning. These policies keep changing and bookkeepers should keep themselves updated with all the changes.
• Communication skills – Communication is one of the most important skills for almost any job. It is also true for bookkeeping. The bookkeepers should be able to clearly communicate with their team members, colleagues, and clients. They should be comfortable with all forms of communication like in-person meetings, emails and instant messages.
• Knowledge of various financial and accounting software – There is various financial and accounting software that makes the job of a bookkeeper easy. Given the large volume of transactions, making each entry manually can get intimidating. Therefore finding someone who has the knowledge of using various accounting software like Tally, SAP and others can be of help.
• Relevant qualifications – There are various certificates and qualifications that can help people become good bookkeepers. The bookkeepers should have the relevant qualifications for performing their job.
• Problem-solving and analytical skills – Another important skill that is integral for any bookkeeper to have is problem-solving and analytical skills. Bookkeepers should have the ability to quickly identify the error and correct it. They should also be able to analyze the accounting data to arrive at meaningful conclusions. 

Wrapping up

Bookkeeping is an essential activity in the stability and growth of any business. Whether it is a small business or a large business, the recording of financial transactions plays a crucial role. It helps you analyze important financial data and make informed decisions. Planning taxes and meeting important deadlines also becomes easier with proper bookkeeping. Having the data organized also helps the companies set short-term and long-term goals. 

Given the high volume of transactions and the costs associated with hiring full-time skilled staff for bookkeeping, it can be intimidating to manage it all by yourself. Aviaan accounting, the No.1 bookkeeping firm in Dubai, UAE, is the one-stop solution for all your needs. 

What Aviaan Accounting offers?

We at Aviaan accounting have a team of highly experienced professionals who are committed to providing you with the best-in-class service. We are the No. 1 Bookkeeping and Accounting firm in Dubai, UAE. We have experience assisting thousands of organizations with their bookkeeping services. Moreover, we are always on time and consistent. 

So don’t wait and visit us at Aviaan Accounting, which is the No. 1 Bookkeeping firm in Dubai, UAE. Get your Bookkeeping service now!