Wave accounting alternative UAE: moving from Wave to HelloBooks

Wave’s help article on users outside the United States and Canada says that, following its November 2020 decision to focus on those two countries, product and customer support for other users was discontinued. It says these users can no longer send invoices or reminders through Wave, that accounts remain active but this may change, and that compliance could not be guaranteed outside supported regions. Wave suggests these users move to its partner, Zoho Books.

Wave’s home page describes accounting, invoicing, payments, payroll and receipts for small business owners. It does not mention VAT. For a UAE business that is registered for VAT, that is the gap: no 5% treatment per line designed for the FTA, and no VAT 201 preparation.

Start by exporting from Wave: chart of accounts, customer and supplier lists, open invoices and bills, and transaction history as CSV. Pick a clean switch date, such as the first day of a VAT quarter, so the old system holds everything before it and HelloBooks everything after.

In HelloBooks, load opening balances from your Wave trial balance at that date and import open invoices and bills. The AI agent then takes over daily work: reading bills and receipts in Arabic or English, posting them with the right VAT treatment, and matching statements you upload from your UAE bank. Example: a Dubai Silicon Oasis start-up with AED 410,000 annual revenue that has just crossed the mandatory threshold can register, set its VAT dates in HelloBooks, and have the first VAT 201 draft prepared from the ledger.

Keep your Wave export as an archive. If you need a chart of accounts or invoice layout set up during the move, our team can do it; book a slot at /book-a-demo.

• Export everything from Wave before access changes
• Choose a switch date at a VAT period boundary
• Load opening balances and open items into HelloBooks
• Let the AI agent post new activity; review exceptions weekly

If your business is actually based in the United States or Canada, Wave serves those markets by its own account, and this page is not for you. For a business operating in the UAE, Wave itself points to other software, so the question is which replacement fits.