Financial Accounting and Assurance Services

Finance leaders across the Middle East are operating in one of the most demanding and varied environments. National transformation programs, new IFRS Accounting Standards, active capital markets, evolving tax and regulatory requirements, digital reporting mandates, and rising expectations from boards, regulators and investors are reshaping the CFO agenda.

At the same time, automation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence are changing how finance operates and what businesses expect it to deliver. Finance must provide reliable reporting, effective control and business planning, while producing faster decision-useful insights in an increasingly complex business environment.

What unites these otherwise very different Middle East markets are common structural gaps. Whether we are dealing with listed companies, family-owned groups, conglomerates, government-linked entities, banks, or public institutions; most finance functions are still built around transaction processing and compliance. The result is a widening distance between what C-suite, boards, regulators, lenders, and stakeholders now expect from finance, and what the function is structurally equipped to deliver.

Finance leaders in the region consistently describe a similar set of obstacles:

• Legacy systems and fragmented data making it difficult to produce real time insights.
• Talent and capability gaps in technical accounting, data analytics, and transformative finance technologies.
• Cultural and structural resistance to change compounded by budget and headcount constraints.
• Increasing regulatory, tax and financial reporting requirements.
• Growing expectations for timely, forward-looking and decision-useful insight

The result can be a widening gap between what boards, management and stakeholders need from finance and what the function is currently equipped to provide, even as the business and environment around it becomes more complex.

Closing this gap requires more than technical accounting support. It requires the combination of accounting judgement, industry knowledge, finance-function experience, data capabilities and practical implementation support.

KPMG’s Financial Accounting Assurance Services (FAAS) practice helps CFOs, controllers, finance leaders and audit committees address complex accounting and reporting matters, strengthen finance-function capabilities and improve the quality and timeliness of decision-useful information.

Our teams combine:

• Deep knowledge of IFRS Accounting Standards and other reporting frameworks
• Practical experience of supporting complex transaction accounting
• Industry specialist and regional insight
• Data, analytics, automation and technology capabilities
• Access to KPMG’s global methodologies, tools and specialist network
• Scalable delivery through onshore and nearshore service models

Is your finance function ready for what comes next?

Whether you are addressing an immediate accounting issue, preparing for an IPO, modernizing financial reporting or redesigning the finance function, our specialists can help you assess your current position, prioritize the opportunities and build a practical path forward.

Contact our FAAS team to discuss your accounting, reporting and finance-transformation priorities.

We are offering a single dedicated point of contact for all your needs, and you can reach us at MEC-DLAssurance-FAAS@Kpmg.Com.