Accounting built around certificates, retention and claims
Work in progress, progress billing and retention — tracked project by project, so you know what you have actually earned.
- WIP by project
- Retention tracked to release
Where a contractor’s money actually goes
The same AED 1,000,000 of certified work, followed from the day it is built to the day the last of it is paid.
-
The work is done
Labour, plant and subcontract are spent. Cost is yours from day one, whether or not anything has been certified.
Cash out -
It is certified
Revenue is recognised against the work completed, and the date of supply for VAT is triggered on the full certified value.
AED 1,000,000 -
VAT falls due
On the whole certificate — including the part the client has not paid you. That gap is funded out of your own cash.
AED 5,000 of it on money you do not have -
You are paid
Ninety per cent arrives. The remaining ten sits with the client as retention — earned, certified, taxed, and not yours to spend.
AED 900,000 -
Retention is released
Usually around twelve months after completion, and only if somebody is tracking it. This is the money contractors most often never collect.
AED 100,000
Figures are a worked example on a 10% retention, not a quote.
500+ Businesses
Supported across the UAE
Main & Sub-contractors
Both sides of the certificate
Retention & Claims
Tracked from certificate to release
Dedicated Advisor
One person who knows your projects
Three things that break a contractor’s books
Not general accounting with projects bolted on. These are the places contractors actually lose money and fail reviews.
Revenue that is not the invoice
Under IFRS 15 a contract earns as the work is done, not as it is billed. Book revenue off certificates alone and every month is either flattered or punished by whatever happened to be certified in it.
Money earned that is not yours yet
Retention is usually 5% or 10% of every certificate, released around a year after completion. Left inside ordinary receivables it quietly overstates what you can collect, and nobody chases it.
Variations that never reach the ledger
Instructed on site, priced later, argued about at the end. Work done outside the original scope is real cost from the day it starts — and if it is not recorded against the job, the margin it destroys is invisible until the project closes.
“A contractor almost never loses money at the end of a job. They lose it in month four, and find out in month eleven.”
Ripple Accounting · DubaiBilled is not the same as earned
The same job, read two ways. One tells you what has been invoiced. The other tells you whether you are making money.
Read by what you have billed
Comfortable, and often wrong
- A heavy certificate makes a bad month look strong, and a delayed one makes a good month look weak
- Cost already incurred on unbilled work sits in the accounts with no revenue against it
- An overrun stays hidden until the last certificate, when there is nothing left to recover it from
Read by what you have earned
Uncomfortable, and true
- Revenue recognised against work actually completed, so the month reflects the month
- Cost to complete re-estimated every close, so a job going wrong announces itself early
- Under- and over-billing shown as what they are, instead of hiding inside receivables
The whole cycle, from site instruction to filed return
WIP and percentage of completion
Revenue recognised against work actually done, with cost to complete re-estimated at every close — the IFRS 15 basis your auditor will ask for.
Retention register
Every retention held, by project and by client, with its release date — kept out of ordinary receivables so your collectable figure stays honest.
Progress billing and certificates
Applications, certified amounts and the VAT date of supply handled together, so a certificate never lands in the wrong return.
Subcontractor accounts
Payments, advances and back-charges tracked against each package, so what you owe down the chain matches what you have certified up it.
Cost tracking by project
Labour, plant, materials and subcontract booked to the job they belong to — the only way a variation shows up as cost while you can still price it.
Corporate Tax readiness
Contract records that stand behind the return, so the 9% above AED 375,000 is calculated on numbers you can defend.
Four steps, then it runs
Contract review
We go through your live projects, how costs reach them, and where the record breaks down.
Set the WIP basis
One agreed way to measure completion and estimate cost to complete — written down, so every project is read the same way.
Monthly close by project
Costs, certificates, retention and VAT reconciled per job, with the supporting documents filed against each entry.
Returns and reporting
VAT filed inside the 28-day window, and a per-project margin view you can act on while the job is still running.
Common questions from UAE contractors
Do I have to register for VAT?+
Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies and imports pass AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or if you expect to pass it within the next 30 days. Voluntary registration is available from AED 187,500 — often worth it for contractors carrying recoverable input VAT on plant and materials.
Do I pay VAT on retention I have not received?+
VAT is accounted for on the value certified, not on the cash that reaches you, so the retained portion is taxed at the point the rest of the certificate is. The retention itself is invoiced and accounted for when it falls due for release. It is not lost — but it does have to be funded, and it is the cash surprise we are asked about most.
When does VAT actually fall due on a progress payment?+
On the earliest of the date the tax invoice is issued, the date payment is received, or the date the work is completed — construction is treated as a continuous supply, so each certified stage triggers its own date of supply. In practice the certificate date is what governs, and a certificate issued near a period end is the one most often filed in the wrong return.
My projects have never had a proper WIP schedule. Can that be fixed?+
Usually, yes. It normally comes down to costs never coded to a job, variations recorded nowhere, and retention buried in receivables. We rebuild the position project by project from the contracts and certificates, set an opening WIP you can stand behind, and then keep it tied every month.
Talk to someone who has seen your books before
Thirty minutes, a look at how your projects and certificates are recorded, and an honest view of what is missing.
- Free first consultation
- No obligation
- Response within 24 hours