Accounting and Auditing Profession Law

Replaces the 2014 auditors law: chartered accountants and firms practising in the UAE, including free-zone practitioners working outside their zone, need a Ministry of Economy professional licence, an economic licence and, for auditing listed companies and funds, SCA accreditation; it imposes due-diligence, insurance and ten-year record-keeping duties, disciplinary fines of AED 10,000 to 1,000,000 and criminal penalties.

Summary

Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2023 regulates who may practise accounting and auditing in the UAE. It repealed Federal Law No. 12 of 2014 on the auditors' profession (Article 39) and, under Article 40, came into force six months after its publication in Official Gazette issue 760 (Annex 1) of 29 September 2023, which places commencement at the end of March 2024. Regulations and decisions issued under the 2014 law stay in effect until replaced, and practitioners enrolled under the old law had one year from publication to regularise their status (Article 36).

Article 3 applies the law to chartered accountants and accounting firms practising in the UAE and to free zone practitioners who wish to work outside their zone; government audit bodies are excluded. The profession covers auditing and review of financial statements and other assurance services within the Ministry of Economy's standards (Article 4). Article 6 bars anyone from practising without the licences the law requires: a professional licence from the Ministry (Article 8) and, for a firm, an economic licence from the local authority, which may not be issued, amended or cancelled without the Ministry's approval (Article 14). Only a licensed person may use the title Chartered Accountant. Audits of public joint stock companies and mutual funds additionally require SCA accreditation, and firms auditing banks, insurers and investment funds must have held their Ministry licence for at least five years (Article 15).

Article 16 lists the practitioner's duties: due diligence, preparing reports personally or through supervised staff, an internal control system covering quality control, data secrecy, governance and anti-money laundering compliance, professional liability insurance paid by the firm, and reporting fraud or money laundering discovered during the engagement. Article 17 sets independence restrictions, including no trading in a client's securities and no financial interest in or debt relationship with the client. Article 18 imposes confidentiality and Article 19 requires working papers to be kept for at least ten years from the report date.

Discipline runs through a Professional Compliance Committee (Article 22), which can issue a warning, a fine of AED 10,000 to AED 1,000,000, suspension of one month to three years or cancellation (Article 20), with a grievance within ten business days and appeal to the Court of Appeal within twenty (Article 23). Articles 27 and 28 add criminal penalties: imprisonment of at least three months and/or AED 100,000 to AED 2,000,000 for unlicensed practice or signing reports prepared by others, and at least one year and/or AED 300,000 to AED 5,000,000 for knowingly signing a false report, disclosing client secrets or concealing financial crime.

Who it applies to

Chartered accountants and accounting firms practising in the UAE, including free zone practitioners who want to work outside their free zone (Article 3). Government audit agencies are excluded. Indirectly it governs every company whose audited financial statements must be signed by a licensed auditor.

Contents

English official text in 40 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:

1. Article 1 — Definitions
2. Article 2 — Objectives of the Decree Law
3. Article 3 — Scope of Application
4. Article 4 — Scope of Services
5. Article 5 — Ministry’s Responsibilities
6. Article 6 — Practice of Profession
7. Article 7
8. Article 8 — Professional License
9. Article 9 — Change of the Professional License Particulars
10. Article 10 — Provisional Suspension of the Professional License
11. Article 11 — Cancellation of the Professional License
12. Article 12 — Re-issue of License after Cancellation
13. Article 13 — Merger and Acquisition
14. Article 14 — Economic License of Accounting Firms
15. Article 15 — Accounting Firm Accreditation by SCA
16. Article 16 — Obligations of the Profession Practitioner
17. Article 17 — The Prescribed Restrictions on the Profession Practitioners
18. Article 18 — Confidentiality of Information
19. Article 19 — Maintaining Working Papers
20. Article 20 — Disciplinary Sanctions
21. Article 21 — Procedures of Calling the Profession’s Practitioners to Account
22. Article 22 — Professional Compliance Committee
23. Article 23 — Filing Grievance against Disciplinary Sanctions
24. Article 24
25. Article 25 — Civil Liability
26. Article 26 — Capacity of Judicial Seizure Officers
27. Article 27
28. Article 28
29. Article 29 — Publication of Findings, Decisions of Committees and Judgments
30. Article 30 — Lawsuits Against the Profession Practitioners
31. Article 31 — Profession Development Committee
32. Article 32 — Filing Grievance against the Rejection of Professional Licensing
33. Article 33 — Standards of the Profession
34. Article 34 — Emiratization
35. Article 35 — Complaints Heard before the Disciplinary Board
36. Article 36 — Status Regularization
37. Article 37 — Charges
38. Article 38 — The Decree Law Enforcing Regulations
39. Article 39 — Repeals
40. Article 40 — Publication and Coming into Force of the Decree Law

Key provisions

Obligations and deadlines

• Hold a Ministry of Economy professional licence and an economic licence before offering any audit or assurance service (Articles 6, 8 and 14).
• Notify the Ministry of any change in licence particulars within 30 days (Article 9).
• Obtain SCA accreditation before auditing public joint stock companies or mutual funds (Article 15).
• Maintain professional liability insurance and an internal control system covering quality, secrecy and AML (Article 16).
• Keep working papers for at least ten years from the report date (Article 19).
• Report fraud or suspected money laundering found during an engagement to the Ministry and competent bodies (Article 16).
• Practitioners enrolled under the 2014 law had one year from publication to regularise their status (Article 36).

Penalties

Disciplinary (Article 20): written notice, administrative fine of AED 10,000 to AED 1,000,000, suspension of the licence for one month to three years, or cancellation. Criminal (Article 27): imprisonment of at least three months and/or a fine of AED 100,000 to AED 2,000,000 for obtaining a licence by false information, practising without a licence or while suspended, or signing a report not prepared by oneself or one's staff. Article 28: imprisonment of at least one year and/or AED 300,000 to AED 5,000,000 for knowingly signing a false report, disclosing a client's secrets or facilitating or concealing a financial crime. The court may also cancel the licence or close the firm.

History and citations

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