Service pillar
A finance function that can answer the question before it is asked.
Projections you can defend, controls that hold, books an auditor can sign, and a model that survives a buyer's diligence.
In short
Keel Partners provides fractional CFO services to UAE and GCC businesses that need finance leadership without a full-time hire: a management reporting pack the board can act on, a financial model and projections built on defensible assumptions, an internal control framework that closes the obvious gaps, audit-readiness work before the auditor arrives, and the financial workstream inside a transaction. We are management consultants, not licensed auditors, and we do not sign accounts.
Fit
Who this is for
Most owner-led businesses do not need a full-time CFO. They need CFO-grade answers four days a month.
Right fit
- Businesses turning over roughly AED 5m to AED 150m with a bookkeeper or accountant but no CFO
- Boards that receive a P&L but cannot explain the variance or forecast the quarter
- Companies preparing for a raise, a sale or a first external audit
- Acquirers who need the financial workstream run alongside commercial diligence
- Groups where UAE corporate tax has made the quality of the numbers a compliance issue, not just a habit
Not a fit
- Statutory audit, assurance or the signing of financial statements — we are not auditors
- Tax filing, tax opinions or transfer-pricing documentation — that is licensed work
- Bookkeeping and payroll processing, which a good accounting firm does better and cheaper
- Regulated investment advice or capital raising as a licensed intermediary
Problems
The problems we are usually called on
Projections nobody believes
A model built backwards from the number the owner wants, with no assumption anyone can defend to a lender or buyer.
Management accounts that arrive too late
Month-end lands on the 20th. By the time the variance is understood the quarter has moved on.
No control framework
One person raises the PO, approves the invoice and releases the payment. Nobody has written down who may commit what.
Audit-ready only in theory
First external audit approaching, with reconciliations undone, related-party transactions undocumented and revenue recognition improvised.
Corporate tax caught them out
Nine per cent on taxable income above AED 375,000 means the management accounts now have a compliance consequence.
Cash forecast is a guess
Profitable on paper, tight in the bank, and no thirteen-week view of what happens next.
Method
How we work
A diagnostic first, then a fixed monthly commitment — typically two to five days a month, with a defined finish line.
Finance diagnostic
Two weeks across the ledger, the bank, the close process and the reporting pack. What exists, what is missing, and what is quietly wrong.
Rebuild the reporting pack
Five numbers, defined precisely, with owners. A pack the board reads in fifteen minutes and can act on.
Model and projections
A driver-based model with assumptions stated on the face of it. Base, downside and the specific facts that would move you between them.
Controls
Delegation of authority, segregation of duties, approval thresholds, bank mandates and a documented month-end close checklist.
Audit readiness
Reconciliations, revenue recognition policy, related-party disclosure, provisions and the schedule of what the auditor will ask for.
Hand over or stay
Either we hand to a finance manager we help you hire, or we stay at a lighter cadence. The scope says which from the start.
Deliverables
What you get
Artefacts a team can run without us in the room.
- A monthly management reporting pack with defined metrics and named owners
- A driver-based financial model with a written assumption log
- A thirteen-week rolling cash forecast
- A delegation-of-authority matrix and month-end close checklist
- An audit-readiness file and a gap list with dates against it
- For transactions: the financial workstream, quality-of-earnings support and the model behind the offer
- A scorecard for the finance hire that eventually replaces us
Geography
UAE, KSA and Europe are not the same problem
Finance leadership in the Gulf carries obligations European and Indian operators do not always anticipate.
| United Arab Emirates | Saudi Arabia | Europe / UK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax regime | Corporate tax at 9% above AED 375,000 of taxable income; free-zone 0% treatment is conditional and does not extend to all income | Corporate income tax and zakat, with withholding on several cross-border payments | Full corporate tax regimes with established filing and audit cycles |
| E-invoicing | Phased mandate: pilot from 1 July 2026, businesses above AED 50m revenue from 1 January 2027, below that from 1 July 2027 | ZATCA e-invoicing already in force and enforced | Country-by-country; EU ViDA reforms in progress |
| Employee cost accrual | End-of-service gratuity accrues from day one and is usually provisioned rather than funded | Similar end-of-service obligations | Pension and social contributions, funded and predictable |
| Audit expectation | Required in many free zones and increasingly expected by banks and buyers | Required | Statutory, with established thresholds |
| Where we help most | Building the management-accounts layer that never existed, then making it audit-ready | Sequencing finance build alongside registration | Bridging local statutory reporting into a group operating pack |
Selected work
Mandate shapes
How CFO work is scoped, and where it came from.
Fractional CFO — standard shape
A two-week diagnostic, then three days a month: reporting pack, driver-based model, thirteen-week cash view, controls matrix and an audit-readiness file. Fixed monthly fee, reviewed at six months against a written handover test.
Typical mandateWhere the capability comes from
Virtual CFO was a standing offer inside the RedDot Life advisory practice, alongside curated transactions and build-operate-transfer mandates, across healthcare, retail, hospitality and niche manufacturing.
Prior firmFAQ
Questions buyers actually ask
Are you auditors?
No. Keel Partners is not a licensed audit firm and does not perform statutory audit or assurance. What we do is get a business ready for its auditor — reconciliations, policies, disclosures and the document schedule — so the audit is shorter, cheaper and less disruptive. The audit itself is signed by a licensed firm.
Do you file our corporate tax return?
No. Tax filing and tax opinions are licensed work and we refer them. What we do affect is the quality of the underlying numbers, which is where most corporate-tax exposure in an owner-led business actually originates.
How many days a month?
Two to five for most businesses in our range, after a two-week diagnostic. Less than two and you get attendance rather than leadership; more than five and you should be hiring.
Can you build the model for a fundraise?
We build the model and the assumption log, and we will sit with you through diligence questions on it. We do not act as a placement agent or raise capital on your behalf — that is regulated activity we are not licensed for.
What is a thirteen-week cash forecast and why that number?
A rolling week-by-week view of cash in and out for the next quarter. Thirteen weeks is long enough to see a problem while you can still act on it and short enough that the numbers are real rather than modelled.
Our accountant says the books are fine. Why would we need this?
Bookkeeping and management information are different jobs. A clean ledger tells you what happened. A management pack tells you what to do next, and most owner-led businesses have the first and not the second.
What does it cost?
A fixed fee for the diagnostic, then a fixed monthly fee against a defined day commitment. Both are quoted before work starts, and the monthly fee is reviewed at six months against the handover test in the scope.
Will you help us hire a permanent finance lead?
Yes — we write the scorecard, sit in on final interviews and hand over. We take no placement fee, because being paid to recommend our own replacement in either direction is a conflict.
Can you work alongside our existing accounting firm?
Almost always, and usually we must. We sit above the ledger, not inside it. Where the relationship is not working we will say so, but replacing your accountant is rarely the fix people expect.
What about end-of-service gratuity in the accounts?
It is the most commonly under-provisioned line we see. We quantify the accrual, show the cash effect under termination scenarios, and put the funding decision in front of the board rather than leaving it in a note.
Next step
Book a 30-minute briefing
Bring the decision you are stuck on. We will tell you what we would do and whether we are the right firm to do it.