Accounting
A ledger is a list of accounts (cash, customers who owe you, VAT, sales, expenses, and so on).
What is a ledger?
Where in the app: Finance → Chart of accounts
A ledger is a list of accounts (cash, customers who owe you, VAT, sales, expenses, and so on). Every posted event writes at least two sides that must add up: a debit and a credit of the same amount in AED.
Why must the trial balance balance?
Where in the app: Finance → Trial balance
The trial balance lists every account’s net for a date range. Debits in total must equal credits in total. If they do not, the books do not foot and you must not close the period. Typical causes: a draft journal still sitting in the journal, a document that never posted, or a reversed entry left unbalanced.
What is the general ledger?
Where in the app: Finance → General ledger
The general ledger is one account’s story: opening balance, each posting, running balance. Open it from Accounting, then pick an account to see every line that hit it.
How is profit and loss different from cash P&L?
Where in the app: Finance → Profit & Loss
The profit and loss from the ledger is income minus expenses for posted journals in the range — not the same as cash P&L, which follows money in and out.
What does the balance sheet show?
Where in the app: Finance → Balance sheet
The balance sheet is assets, liabilities, and equity as at one day, including retained earnings. It is a snapshot, not a period total.
When does Fatura start posting to the ledger?
Where in the app: Finance → Journal
Fatura only posts from the accounting start date. Conversion documents imported from an old system are flagged so they do not post again.
What does closing a period do?
Where in the app: Finance → Accounting periods
Accounting periods in Fatura close by calendar month. Closing a month freezes posted books for that range so later edits cannot silently rewrite a filed story. Closing is a deliberate action on the Accounting periods screen.
What blocks a period close?
Where in the app: Finance → Accounting periods
Blocking warnings must be fixed or the close is refused. Today that includes a trial balance that does not foot (TRIAL_BALANCE_UNBALANCED) and issued documents with no posted journal (UNPOSTED_DOCUMENTS).
What are advisory period-close warnings?
Where in the app: Finance → Accounting periods
Advisory warnings are questions to look at — they do not block. Examples: draft journals still open, an earlier month still open, ledger VAT vs document VAT mismatch, depreciation not run, a missing stock count, or a corporate tax return coming due.
What is a lasting purchase?
Where in the app: Finance → Lasting purchases
A lasting purchase (equipment, furniture, a vehicle) is not an ordinary expense. It sits on the balance sheet and its cost is spread over useful life as depreciation. Fatura can capitalise a purchase above your capitalisation threshold, or you can add an asset by hand.
How does depreciation work?
Where in the app: Finance → Lasting purchases
Straight-line depreciation posts a monthly expense and reduces the asset’s net book value through accumulated depreciation. Catch-up runs months that were due since go-live; months before accounting started are not charged. Depreciation is posted from the Lasting purchases screen.
What happens when I sell or scrap an asset?
Where in the app: Finance → Lasting purchases
When you sell or scrap an asset, proceeds should be invoiced. Until they are, a clearing account may still show an outstanding amount (UNBILLED_ASSET_SALE on period close). Gain or loss on disposal is the difference between proceeds and net book value.
What is bank reconciliation?
Where in the app: Finance → Bank reconciliation
A bank statement is what the bank says happened. The ledger bank account is what Fatura posted (payments in, bills and expenses out, opening balances). Reconciliation matches statement lines to ledger entries.
What does a non-zero difference mean?
Where in the app: Finance → Bank reconciliation
The summary shows the ledger balance, the statement closing balance, the difference, and how many lines are matched or still unmatched. A difference that is not zero means something is still unposted, duplicated, or dated in the wrong period.
Can I import a PDF bank statement?
Where in the app: Finance → Bank reconciliation
You can extract rows from a PDF statement with the scanner; you review them before they are stored. Matching is done on the Bank reconciliation screen. This Help panel never confirms a match or posts a bank journal.
Who must register for UAE corporate tax?
Where in the app: Finance → Corporate tax
Most UAE businesses are in the federal corporate tax system even when the tax is zero. Registration is still required; late registration can carry an AED 10,000 penalty. This is a primer, not a filing opinion — confirm on EmaraTax and with the FTA.
How does Fatura compute corporate tax?
Where in the app: Finance → Corporate tax
Fatura computes a preview from the ledger: accounting profit, listed (not automatic) add-backs for non-deductible expense accounts, then taxable income. 0% applies to taxable income up to AED 375,000; 9% applies above that — unless Small Business Relief is elected and the rules for that election are met.
What is Small Business Relief?
Where in the app: Finance → Corporate tax
As Fatura encodes it: revenue at or below AED 3,000,000, the period ends on or before 31 December 2026, and you have not already told Fatura that you exceeded the threshold before. Electing relief zeros the tax for that period and, in FTA rules, forfeits loss carry-forward for that period. Relief is not automatic — it is an election on the period.
When is the corporate tax return due?
Where in the app: Finance → Corporate tax
The return is due nine months after the tax period end. Fatura stores periods and can freeze a computation when you file in the app. This Help panel never files a CT return.
Related guides
- Do Freelancers Pay Corporate Tax in the UAE?
Only above AED 1 million of business turnover — and even then most pay nothing. But the relief that makes it nothing is closing, and it has never been automatic.
- How Long Must You Keep Invoices in the UAE?
Five years for VAT records — but counted from the end of the tax period, not the invoice date, and seven years if you are also subject to corporate tax. The periods that actually apply.
- Do I Need an Accountant to File VAT in the UAE?
For a simple business, no — the return is arithmetic you can do yourself. Here is where it stops being simple, and what it costs to find out the hard way.