United Arab Emirates
Decisionsthat hold up.
Audit, tax, accounting and advisory for businesses operating in, entering or expanding within the UAE. Positions documented so they can be defended. Reporting timely enough to act on.
No obligation, and no fee for the first conversation.
Common starting points
Standing
Independent, UAE-based, accountable.
The work is judged by regulators, lenders, buyers and boards. It is prepared to be read by all four.
- 10
- Practices, one accountable team
- 89
- Named capabilities across those practices
- 21
- UAE sectors and business profiles served
About us
A UAE firm built around the decision, not the filing.
Most businesses are not short of financial information. They are short of information that arrives in time, in a form someone can decide on, with reasoning behind it that will still hold in two years.
That gap is where we work. It is why compliance and advisory sit in the same team here, and why every position we take is written down at the time it is taken.
- Independent and UAE-based
- Positions are constructed inside the UAE framework rather than translated from another jurisdiction and hedged.
- One team, both halves of the work
- The people filing your returns are the people advising on structure, so nothing is lost in a handover that never happens.
- Judgements recorded as they are made
- Written down at the time, not reconstructed two years later when someone asks how you arrived at it.
The UAE reality
Six questions every business here has to answer.
None of them are answered by a template. Each needs a position that fits how your business is actually structured.
- Corporate Tax
Whether an obligation exists, and which entities it reaches
Registration, filing and the reasoning behind the numbers are separate pieces of work. Each has to stand on its own.
How we help - VAT
Returns that reconcile to the business, not just to the portal
Most VAT exposure is created upstream, in how transactions are recorded, not at the point of filing.
How we help - Transfer pricing
Related-party pricing you can support with documentation
If entities in your group trade with each other, the pricing needs a rationale that was written down at the time.
How we help - AML and UBO
Obligations mapped to named owners and dates
Compliance frameworks fail on ownership, not on policy. Someone has to be accountable for each obligation.
How we help - Structure
Free zone or mainland, decided on how you actually trade
The right structure follows from customers, suppliers and where value is created — not from the setup cost.
How we help - Reporting
Management information early enough to act on
A close that lands three weeks late means decisions are made on last quarter's numbers.
How we help
How we work
Four ways we are brought in.
Most clients use more than one. They are handled by the same team, which is the point.
- Advise
- A defined question, a documented answer, and the reasoning behind it. Ends in a decision with an owner.
- Build
- Process, controls and systems put in place, then handed over with the documentation to run them.
- Run
- We operate the finance function to agreed service levels, with named people and reporting dates you can plan around.
- Assure
- Independent review of what has been reported, evidenced well enough to satisfy whoever is asking.
What we do
Services. One team.
73 capabilities, delivered by people who also carry the compliance work — so advice and filing never come from two different places.
Industries
Sector knowledge that shows up in the detail.
Contract accounting in construction, place of supply in e‑commerce, payer reconciliation in healthcare. The differences are where the work actually is.
Built Environment & Real Assets
Consumer & Commerce
Services & Institutions
Industrial & Energy
Technology & Media
By business profile
Why us
Four things that change the work.
- Partner-led, and it stays that way
- The person who scopes the engagement stays on it. You will not be introduced to a team you then never see again.
- Built for the UAE, not adapted to it
- Positions are constructed inside the UAE framework rather than translated from another jurisdiction and hedged.
- Compliance and advisory in one team
- The people filing your returns are the people advising on structure. Nothing is lost in the handover, because there isn't one.
- Judgements documented when they are made
- Every position is written down at the time, not reconstructed two years later when someone asks how you arrived at it.
Insights
Positions, explained.
Written for the person who has to act on it, not to demonstrate that we read the legislation.
- ExplainerCorporate Tax
What determines whether your entity has a UAE Corporate Tax obligation
The question is settled by structure, activity and where value is created — not by the licence type alone.
Read the explainer - ExplainerFree zones & mainland
Free zone or mainland: the questions that actually decide it
Customers, suppliers and where the work is performed decide this. Setup cost is the least useful input.
Read the explainer - ExplainerTransfer pricing
Transfer pricing documentation: what a Local File has to support
Documentation is only useful if it explains a price someone set deliberately, at the time they set it.
Read the explainer
Where we get the call
Situations we are brought into.
Recognisable problems, each with a route through it. Named engagement notes are published only where a client has approved them.
A group has to register for Corporate Tax and nobody has mapped which entities are in scope.
A query has arrived from the authority and the supporting documentation is spread across four systems.
The month-end close lands three weeks late, so the board reviews numbers nobody can still act on.
A buyer has started diligence and the historical numbers will not reconcile to the management accounts.
A family group is separating ownership from management for the first time and needs it to hold.
A new UAE entity has to be trading in weeks, with banking and payroll working from day one.
From the Managing Partner
Why we built the firm this way.
At AKH Advisory, we believe that great businesses are built not only on ambition, but on clarity, discipline, and the right strategic decisions. Our purpose is to be more than an advisory firm. We aim to be a trusted partner to businesses, entrepreneurs, and leaders as they navigate complexity, manage risk, strengthen performance, and pursue sustainable growth. In an increasingly dynamic business environment, organizations need advisors who understand both the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. At AKH Advisory, we combine professional expertise, commercial insight, and a forward-thinking approach to deliver solutions that create measurable and lasting value. Our commitment is simple: to understand our clients' businesses as deeply as they do, provide advice they can rely on, and stand beside them at every stage of their journey. As we continue to grow, we remain focused on building long-term relationships founded on integrity, excellence, innovation, and trust. We look forward to helping our clients turn challenges into opportunities and ambitions into achievements.
Muhammad Sheheryar Khan
Director and Founding Partner
Who you'll work with
Partner-led, and named from the start.
You will know who is accountable for the work before it begins, and they will still be there when it ends.
Managing Partner
Business Advisory · Transactions
Named on introductionPartner — Tax
Tax
Named on introductionPartner — Audit & Assurance
Audit & Assurance · Risk & Compliance
Named on introductionDirector — Corporate Services
Corporate Services · Outsourcing
Named on introduction
Next step
Tell us what you are deciding.
A short conversation is usually enough to establish whether there is a real question, who should answer it, and what it will take. No obligation on either side.
Not ready for a meeting? Ask one specific question instead.
What follows
- A person in the relevant practice reads it, not a routing queue.
- One reply that already contains a view, not a request to book a call.
- A written scope and fee basis, or a straight answer that there is no work to do.
- Sunday – Thursday, 9:00 – 18:00 GST