Month: May 2022
Business Valuation and different ways to determine the Value of a Company
May 30, 2022
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 55 807 4568
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
Our team at HLB HAMT uses modern and widely accepted techniques to determine the right value of your enterprise.
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversation
Sign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
Emerging Technology and Role of the Internal Auditor in UAE
Kikubye John, BA. Economics, ISO 22301, CPA (U)
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 55 807 4568
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
Technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Corporate entities strive to improve service delivery and consequently customer satisfaction through heavily investing in modern technology and reliance on automation like smart automatic teller machines, point of sale devices, contactless debit and credit cards, mobile phone applications etc. Resultantly, the same has opened computer networks to unprecedented levels of vulnerabilities and risks including cyber-attacks.
Albert Einstein said; “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” -This implies that internal audit and quality assurance functions need to identify and focus on emerging risks. Internal audit should ensure that the risk assessment and audit planning process adequately incorporate emerging technology risks, understand the impact on the audit plan and update the plan as appropriate, but most importantly recognizes where internal audit can add value.
Moreover, internal auditors must step away from the traditional reactive role and embrace a more proactive role if they are to give reasonable assurance that the Governance, Risk and Control aspects are effective in risk mitigation and adequately safeguard company assets. They should not be functioning solely; but rather collaborate with different departments within an organization. Even though majority of the internal audit teams have transformed themselves, there are still a few that need to adopt these changes. Working closely with various departments within an entity will help in addressing the emerging threats arising from the technological advancements throughout the organization.
How can internal auditors help in tackling technological risks?
- Make use of technology-enabled auditing and continuous auditing techniques to monitor controls over areas that are more susceptible to fraudulent actions.
- Collaborate with department heads and business owners to ensure organizational standards and the relevant laws and regulations are taken care of while establishing vendor relationships.
- With mobile applications, bring your own devices (BYOD) and cloud computing creating novel risks, internal auditors have the responsibility to identify, assess and monitor these risks appropriately, with the assistance of executive management and business owners. Clear IT access and security policies and controls must be developed and communicated to all stakeholders. With this, security and privacy risks can be avoided to a certain extent.
- Also, Internal Audit professionals are expected to be equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills to perform audits in line with these technology disruptions and recommend feasible and cost effective controls for improving the risk posture, putting in mind that these changes can either be positive or negative: Positive in a sense that business are reaping the benefits of these technologies through increased efficiencies, and negative in a sense that they may be implemented in a manner that imperils profitability, data protection and security.
Conclusion
Emerging technologies bring opportunities to organizations, but they also expose the enterprise to new risk. Auditors are expected to identify the right balance between cost and benefit of internal controls for mitigating these risk factors. This includes understanding how technology integrates with business, how it is governed, which activities are automated and how they are controlled, what the business impacts are because of this automation, and how negative impacts are controlled and monitored. I personally believe that Internal Audit professionals will continue to be in demand due to their strategic position in organizations’ lines of defence.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
Embracing AI to detect Fraud
HLB HAMT News Team
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 52 830 7998
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
Financial organizations across the globe lose 5 per cent, on average, of their annual revenue because of numerous fraudulent activities, not to mention the loss of productivity & depleted customer confidence as a by-product of the same. With artificial intelligence (AI) in fraud businesses can enhance internal security and simplify corporate operations.
AI can handle a vast number of transactions quickly, thus helping detect fraud in real-time and rejecting or flagging fraudulent transactions for further investigation. Machine Learning (ML) can train models, thus making this detection process extremely fast.
Supervised ML-based systems can be monitored by businesses’ analytics wing, which is at higher risk of such attacks. Moreover, these ML models can be subjected to constant scaling and upgrade, thus improving the fraud prevention scores. Integrating supervised & unsupervised machine learning into one fraud prevention payment score will help discover irregularities in emerging data. Combining these two will deliver scores that are twice as predictive as previous methods.
AI-based technologies can help you evaluate a large amount of transactional data and assist you in identifying fraud patterns and tactics, thus allowing you to save millions through the prevention of any fraudulent attack.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
High time for Gulf nations to follow UAE IPO’s
HLB HAMT News Team
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 55 160 1291
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations have created an atmosphere that is favorable to attracting private investment and personal savings to pour into the Gulf economy. This is a primary focus in order to successfully achieve the aim of broadening national revenue streams.
The Gulf’s equity markets have experienced significant swings in behavior in recent times, with several achieving the designation of ‘global markets.’ This is particularly evident in the UAE equity marketplace, where IPOs are booming.
Three Critical Aspects
Let us look at three critical aspects that are frequently disregarded by business owners, directors, and top management officials, and so it may help improve the chances of success:
- The primary and secondary markets have different characteristics
- Variations in motives and objectives between pre-IPO and post-IPO participants
- The false belief that Public Relations (PR) and Investor Relations (IR) are interchangeable may result in failure.
Private Equity Transactions
Last year, the price of private equity transactions increased to an all-time record of $1.1 trillion, owing to increased average transaction volumes as investors poured their cash into industries like technology and medical sciences. This resulted in a surge in public-to-private [P2P] transactions. Huge buyout funds, global corporations, and lenders, loaded with cash and spurred by increasing share market values, went on a deal-making frenzy in 2021.
Pitfalls of IPO
- The discrepancy between the IPO offer price and the first-day closing price is known as underpricing
- The 30-day stabilization period following the listing of a business
- The value of a company’s stock compared to a country’s index over a period
Organizations today considering a public offering should be aware of the significant risk of failure. Both issuers and shareholders still have a long way to go to realize the actual market possibilities of listed firms. As IPOs are popular in the UAE, they are essentially non-existent in the other GCC nations. This can be attributed to the lack of efforts by IPO-related organisations, which are turning out to be a serious flaw that should be remedied at the earliest.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
The UAE proposed the ‘Green Visa’ programme 2022
HLB HAMT News Team
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 55 160 1291
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
The UAE Cabinet has declared the launch of a new resident visa category, the Green visa, which is one of the most significant improvements to the UAE visa system in years. As part of the announcement, a new type of Green Residence Permit for entrepreneurs, skilled personnel, self-employed professionals, and family members.
The program allows people to remain in the nation for up to six months after their residence permit has been revoked or lapsed.
5-year Green Residence Permit
Without the necessity for an employer or sponsor, qualified professionals can acquire a five-year green residence visa. The following are the categories:
I. Self Employed or Freelance Individuals
There is no requirement for a sponsor or an employer for this 5-year resident visa. As a minimum academic requirement, a bachelor’s degree or specialised certificate is necessary. Furthermore, the individual’s annual self-employment income for the previous two years must have been at least Dhs360,000.
II. Skilled Employees
There is no requirement for a sponsor or an employer for this 5-year resident visa. Candidates must be employed and classified in one of the first, second, or third occupational levels.
III. For business partners or investors
This residence visa allows investors to stay for five years while starting or expanding a business. It replaces the previous residence, which was just two years long. The prerequisites include permission and proof of investment.
IV. Family Members
Children sponsorship age limit have been elevated from 18 to 25, with no age limit for unmarried daughters. Children of determination are given a residence visa regardless of their age. Green residence visa holders may issue residence permits to first-degree relatives, with the family members’ residency having the same duration as the primary resident visa holder.
The proposed Green visa programme focuses on strengthening the UAE’s profile as an attractive location to lure foreign talents and skilled professionals, as well as the adaptability of the labour force.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
VAT Transactions between UAE branch and foreign Head Office
Sreekanth Karicheri, Tax Analyst
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 50 677 5860
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
Basis of opinion
Article 1 of the VAT Decree-Law defines a person as a natural or legal person
Applicability
Applicable to the transactions entered between the UAE branch and the foreign head office
Practical example:
ABC LTD an entity located in the United Kingdom (UK) incorporated a foreign branch in UAE with the legal type “branch of a foreign entity” and it is also registered with FTA. The following transactions are happened between head office and branch:
- Head office charged USD 100,000 from branch as a management fee
- The foreign branch received an interest income of USD 50,000 against a deposit made with head office
The foreign branch is using one of the apportionment methods approved by the authority to apportion the residual input tax.
- Whether the foreign branch is required to disclose the above two transactions in the VAT return?
- Is there any impact for these transactions in input tax apportionment method used by the branch?
Solution:
Reporting requirement
For a supply to take place for VAT purposes, the transactions must generally take place between two separate persons. However, a branch is considered as an extension of the head office/parent company and hence is not to be treated as a separate company.
Therefore, the transaction between foreign branch in UAE and head office in UK will be outside the scope of UAE VAT and the branch is not required to report such transactions in the VAT Return.
Input tax apportionment
Since these transactions are outside the scope of UAE VAT, the branch is not required to include these transactions in the input tax apportionment method calculation. i.e., above transactions shall not impact the percentage of recovery of residual input tax.
Conclusion
Transaction between the UAE branch and its head office located outside UAE are out of scope for VAT purpose. Also, such transactions must not be considered in calculation method for apportionment of residual input tax.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
A brief overview on Payroll Process in UAE
May 14, 2022
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 559715959
WhatsApp:- +971 56 219 1607
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
As a leading payroll outsourcing company in UAE, we help solve your payroll complexities via customized strategies.
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
Unemployed workers in UAE will be Compensated Under New insurance scheme
HLB HAMT News Team
Phone:- +971 4 327 7775
Mobile:- +971 55 160 1291
Email:- dubai@hlbhamt.com
The UAE cabinet has announced the implementation of an unemployment insurance scheme that would compensate insured workers with a cash payment for a limited time period in the case of job loss. The goal is to improve labour market competitiveness, offer social protection for workers, and create a safe and secure working platform for everybody.
واعتمدنا اليوم أيضاً نظاماً للتأمين ضد التعطل عن العمل .. وهدفه تعويض العامل المؤمن عليه بمبلغ نقدي لفترة محدودة في حال تعطله عن العمل .. والهدف تعزيز تنافسية سوق العمل وتوفير مظلة اجتماعية للعاملين فيه وترسيخ بيئة عمل مستقرة للجميع pic.twitter.com/3l41VjBvvA
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) May 9, 2022
The benefits include a reduction of 80% in the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s service costs for private sector enterprises that produce significant results in terms of Emirati citizen recruitment and training. Beginning in January 2023, non-compliant businesses would be required to pay AED6,000 per month for each individual who is unemployed.
Emiratisation rates rises
A new mechanism to strengthen Emiratisation in the private sector has also been authorised, with the intention of boosting Emiratisation rates in skilled occupations by 2% yearly. By 2026, the rate will have climbed to 10%.
The proposed system will be deployed in collaboration with Nafis, a federal initiative aimed at improving Emirati workforce productivity and empowering people to work in the private sector.
NAFIS provides a number of advantages, such as the Emirati Salary Support Scheme, which provides UAE nationals with a one-year salary assistance of up to Dh8,000 per month while training and a monthly assistance of up to Dh5,000 for university graduates for up to 5 years.
Housing project
In addition, the UAE Cabinet also announced a new housing policy as part of its Zayed House Programme, which comprises an innovative funding scheme for housing loans totaling $3.13 billion (AED 11.5 billion) that would help 13,000 citizen families. The financing initiative is the most recent milestone in the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, which aims to guarantee that every person has access to a family home.
Would you like to rate us on Google?
Related content
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversationSign up for HLB HAMT insights newsletters
UAE Data Protection Law – An update on UAE Federal Data Protection Law
May 5, 2022
We help companies allocate and plan their required resources and help in the implementation of a compliant data protection structure.
Get in touch
Whatever your question our team will point you in the right direction
Start the conversation