Advisory · Governance
SOPs, Policies & Corporate Governance for UAE Family Businesses and SMEs
A business that runs on systems, not on the owner's memory.
Most owner-managed companies are governed by habit: the owner approves everything, people do what they did last year, and the rules live in WhatsApp messages. It works until the business grows, a key person leaves, or an auditor asks to see the procedure. We write the small set of documents that make the business run the same way every day.
What we build
The governance toolkit for an owner-managed business
Delegation of authority matrix
Who can approve what, up to how much — purchases, payments, discounts, hiring, credit and contracts. One page that removes half the owner's daily interruptions.
Policies
Short statements of the rule: procurement, credit, cash handling, petty cash, HR, travel, IT and data, conflicts of interest and related-party dealings.
Standard operating procedures
Step-by-step process documents with a flowchart, the forms used, the control points and who is responsible at each step.
Organisation structure and role charters
Reporting lines, job descriptions and the decisions each role owns — so accountability is written down.
Committee and board charters
For groups: what the board, the executive committee and the audit committee each decide, how often they meet, and what they receive.
Family business governance
A family charter, a shareholders' agreement outline, dividend and employment policies for family members, and succession planning.
Priority processes
The SOPs most businesses need first
| Process | Why it comes first |
|---|---|
| Procure-to-pay | The largest outflow of cash, and the place where weak controls cost the most. |
| Order-to-cash and credit control | Who may give credit, how much, and who chases it. |
| Cash and bank handling | Daily cash-ups, deposits, petty cash and bank reconciliations. |
| Inventory and stores | Receiving, issuing, counting, write-offs and transfers between locations. |
| Payroll and HR | Hiring, salary changes, overtime, leave, final settlements. |
| Month-end close | What must be done by which day so the numbers are on time. |
| Related-party transactions | Approval and pricing of dealings between owners, family and group companies — now a corporate tax matter as well as a governance one. |
Anatomy
What a usable SOP looks like
If a new employee cannot follow the procedure on their second day, it is too long. Every SOP we write has the same seven parts and rarely runs beyond three pages.
| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| Purpose and scope | One paragraph: what the process achieves, where it starts and ends, which entities and branches it covers. |
| Roles | Who prepares, who checks, who approves — by job title, never by name. |
| Flowchart | The whole process on one page. |
| Steps | Numbered, each starting with a verb, with the system screen or form used. |
| Control points | The specific checks that prevent error or fraud, and the evidence each leaves behind. |
| Timelines | When each step must be done — daily cash-up by 10 am, supplier payments on the 15th and 30th. |
| Records and review | What is filed where and for how long, the document owner, version and next review date. |
Method
How we write procedures people actually follow
Walk the process
We sit with the people who do the work and document what really happens — not what the old manual says.
Fix before writing
Missing controls, duplicated steps and unclear ownership are resolved with management first.
Write short
One flowchart, numbered steps, named roles, the forms and system screens used. No fifty-page manuals.
Train and test
Staff are trained on the new procedure, and compliance is tested after ninety days.
Governance for SMEs
Corporate governance, scaled to an owner-managed company
Governance does not have to mean independent directors and committees. For a company of fifty or five hundred people it means four things: decisions are taken at the right level, the owner sees reliable numbers every month, related-party dealings are approved and priced properly, and someone independent checks that the rules are followed. For groups, we add a simple board calendar, an advisory board where useful, and an audit committee charter.
Common questions
Questions owners ask
What is a delegation of authority matrix?
How many SOPs does a small or medium business need?
How long does an SOP project take?
Do you provide templates or write them specifically for us?
Can you help a family business with governance and succession?
Is corporate governance a legal requirement for private companies in the UAE?
Do you work in Dubai and Sharjah?
Who does the work
Every engagement is led personally by our principal advisor — a CISA-certified, MBA-qualified finance and audit professional with 15+ years inside UAE retail, F&B, manufacturing and construction groups. The person who diagnoses your business is the one who fixes it.
About →Related services
Often engaged together
Internal Audit & Risk
Outsourced and co-sourced internal audit, risk assessment, controls and fraud prevention.
Explore →HR Advisory & Recruitment
Organisation design, role scorecards, KPI systems and recruitment led by people who know your numbers.
Explore →Process Improvement & Automation
Workflows redesigned and manual work automated with practical micro-tools.
Explore →Is the owner still approving everything?
A discovery conversation will show which three documents would free the most time.