Client onboarding checklist for UAE accountants

Collect everything in one request with a deadline. A shared folder or upload link works better than email attachments.

• Trade licence and memorandum of association, with any amendments
• Owner and signatory passports, Emirates IDs and visas
• VAT registration certificate and TRN, if registered
• Corporate tax registration and TRN, and the tax period
• Last filed VAT return and last financial statements
• Bank account list with statement access, by bank and currency
• Customer due diligence as your firm's anti-money laundering procedures require

Confirm the facts before you rely on them. Check the VAT tax periods and return due dates on the certificate or EmaraTax. Check whether the client is in a free zone and claims qualifying free zone status, or expects to elect small business relief. Note the client's e-invoicing timeline: businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more go live on 1 January 2027 and others on 1 July 2027.

Set up the company file with the client's chart of accounts, or your firm's house chart. Enter opening balances from the last trial balance or financial statements and reconcile them to bank statements, receivables and payables. Load customers with their TRNs, suppliers and items with VAT treatments.

• Upload six to twelve months of bank statements so the AI agent learns the patterns
• Import open receivables and payables
• Set approval rules for bills and payments
• Invite the client's users with the right roles
• Agree the monthly calendar: statement day, review day, report day

After the first upload, the AI agent proposes categories for historical transactions and lists anything it cannot place. Your team reviews these with the client in a single call, which is far quicker than an email thread. From then on, the agent applies the agreed rules.

For firms on the White-Label License, the client signs in to a portal in your firm's branding from day one. Firms that want a standard onboarding template applied to every new client file can ask for it as a customisation through hello@hellobooks.ai.