BDO UAE provides audit and assurance, advisory, tax and business outsourcing services to companies across all sectors of the economy. As one of the world’s leading audit and accounting organisations, we have clients of all types and sizes, from large corporate organisations to private businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals across various industry sectors.
Global Beginning
From a global beginning in 1963 with five original member firms in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada, the name BDO stands for Binder Dijker Otte. In 1973, the British, German and Dutch member firms adopted a common name whose acronym has endured for the entire global network: Binder Hamlyn (UK), Dijker & Co (Holland), Otte & Co (Germany). Today, BDO extends across 164 countries and territories.
BDO in UAE
Russi J Patel started his accounting practice during the 1950s and, in 1962, moved to Aden in South Yemen. Very quickly, Russi established his name within the business community in Aden. With that strong name with many leading business people expanding into Dubai, Russi founded the current firm in the United Arab Emirates in 1969. The firm became the representative firm of BDO in the United Arab Emirates in 1975.
We’re working towards a strong future as a global organisation built on local relationships. We focus on delivering ideas and advice that create value, nurturing quality-driven people and being trusted by our clients to get the job done.
Our motivation is to help people get to where they want to be – whether that's our colleagues, our clients or in the communities we are part of.
With 'people' at the heart of our approach, it's never been more critical to turn the focus away from what it is we do. Because - it's not what we do that's most important, but rather why we do it and how we make people feel.
The essence of our why - our purpose - is people helping people achieve their dreams. Our WHY shapes how we work with our clients, support our colleagues and help our communities succeed. It helps us make better decisions for ourselves and all our stakeholders, individually and as a global organisation.
At BDO, we specialise in helping businesses, whether you are part of a small family-owned business, a public, private, government or multinational organisation, to achieve your goals. Through our professional expertise and by working directly with organisations, we've developed a robust understanding of the factors that govern business growth.
We have a partner-led approach, which delivers the highest quality of service by using short, functional communication chains to aid decision-making. Clients benefit from our fresh thinking, constructive challenge and practical understanding of the issues they face. Developing strong, personal relationships with our clients is at the forefront of our service approach at BDO UAE.
Our Core Values represent the principles we are committed to upholding now and in the future. They define what we stand for as a firm and guide us in our day-to-day work and decisions.
Our firm is distinctive, and as we grow, we want to preserve and build on the strengths of our culture and the characteristics that make us successful, different and an enjoyable place to work. Living up to our Core Values will help us to achieve this.
Our four Core Values complement each other and are all equally important.
Honesty and Integrity
This goes much further than adherence to professional standards: it is about openness and prudent judgement. It is about being trustworthy and straightforward in all of our working relationships. This means we
Mutual Support
We treat each other with consideration and respect and have a strong ethos of sharing and consultation. We go to great lengths to help each other out. We stand up for each other and do not have a blame culture.
• Make time for any colleague who wants to talk through an issue
• Help each other out by freely giving advice and sharing workloads
• Ask for help when we need it
• Share ideas, opportunities, knowledge and resources
• Try to understand each other’s’ points of view
• Accept that people will sometimes get things wrong
• Learn from our mistakes
• Support others when they are in difficult personal circumstances
• Consult and involve others in decisions
• Show consideration for people’s needs inside and outside work
• Maintain a sense of humor and a positive attitude
• Act as one firm
Strong and Personal Client Relationships
Our client relationships are more than just business partnerships: we aim to understand people and business and build long-standing relationships based on mutual respect and trust. We care about the success of our clients and are committed to delivering value. We adopt a professional approach to:
Taking Personal Responsibility
We treat each other as equals. We all have a strong sense of responsibility to colleagues and the firm, and everyone has the right to operate with flexibility and freedom. We appreciate and recognise every individual’s strengths. We can be ourselves.
At BDO, we acknowledge our firm’s primary role in serving the public interest. We believe it is vital that we instill in each and every one of us, the approach to our work be with the right mindset – focused on professional behaviours and delivering quality work.
What is quality?
For us, quality is all about doing the right thing, always. It's embedded in our culture and values and every one of us is committed to meeting professional standards, guidance and best practice.
Delivering quality work requires knowledge and experience, good organisation and project management, sophisticated technology, methodologies and above all, good professional behaviour. It's an approach to work that we're passionate about and one that our clients can rely on.
Values and ethics
Values and ethics play a crucial role in how we conduct ourselves as professionals. They help us all to act with integrity and make the right decisions, even in difficult situations. We rely on each other to understand and adhere to the ethical principles and values, which maintain the trust others have in us and the quality of our work. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of professional conduct and behaving ethically in all that we do.
How do we serve the public interest?
At BDO, we actively outline our commitment to serve the public interest by being:
In order to meet these commitments, we have invested in the following initiatives:
System of Quality Management
We have a firm-wide system of quality management, built on the methodology of International Standard on Quality Management 1, (ISQM1).
Leadership commitment
Our Leadership Team recognises that investing in quality is the best commercial investment we can make. It enables us to demonstrate our high quality to clients, regulators and society.
Culture
We foster a collaborative culture with a quality mindset that is focused on key professional behaviours - acting with integrity, objectivity, professional competence, the courage and confidence to challenge, consult and speak up, and professional scepticism.
Knowledge and awareness
We nurture a continuous learning environment which is encompassed by structured learning, on-the-job training, accessible guidance and timely communications.
Support
We have the right internal controls and infrastructure in place to support our people in delivering high quality engagements while actively monitoring and improving to ensure best practice.
Every BDO employee is responsible for consistently following BDO’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, and choosing the right course of action if faced with an ethical workplace dilemma.
Our Code governs the actions and working relationships of BDO’s partners and employees with current and potential clients, fellow employees, competitors, government and regulatory agencies, the public, the media and anyone else with whom BDO has or may have contact.
BDO Chartered Accountants & Advisors (the “Firm”), a partnership firm registered in Dubai, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms.
BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each pf the BDO Member Firms.
If you have a complaint or concern about our firm, our partners, staff or contractors, you are advised to make us aware of this.
If you are a client, prospective client, sub-contractor, vendor or strategic partner of the Firm and wish to raise a concern with us.
As an eligible person you can report under this policy if you have reasonable grounds to suspect that a BDO staff member, former staff member, contractor, supplier or other person who has business dealings with BDO has engaged in conduct (‘reportable conduct’) that is:
You may report the matter through any of the following means:
Email (speakingup@bdo.ae) or
Kindly request you to fill up the form here.
The disclosure will be subject to the assessment and investigation process set out in the BDO UAE Speaking Up Policy. Where disclosures are made in accordance with the policy, confidentiality will be safeguarded (where requested) and the necessary protections set out in the BDO UAE Speaking Up Policy will apply.
At BDO, we are committed to being a responsible business, both in how we work with our clients and how we contribute to the wider community and the world around us. It is important to our employees to work for a socially responsible organisation, and our approach, therefore, reflects our people. We recognise that: 'Our activities as a firm have an impact on our communities. We are committed to not only managing that impact but also using the resources we have in making a real and sustainable difference.'
BDO’s global organisation extends across 166 countries and territories, with 115,661 people working out of 1,776 offices – and they’re all working towards one goal: to provide our clients with exceptional service.
Our firms across the organisation cooperate closely and comply with consistent operating principles and quality standards. That means local resources who understand your business, your local and international markets and the specifics of your industry: all backed by a truly global organisation.
The fee income of all BDO firms, including the members of their exclusive alliances, was US$14 billion as of 30 September 2023.
EXCEPTIONAL CLIENT SERVICE, DELIVERED ACROSS THE WORLD
BDO’s vision is to be the leader for exceptional client service. This is not about reinventing our profession’s approach to service, but about delivering our services exceptionally well – and delivering that high quality consistently in every office, every country and every territory where we have a presence. No matter where you do business, we have people who can help.
We demonstrate our objectivity and independence when dealing with our clients’ business issues, and this helps us to build relationships based on trust. There are five key components that describe BDO and our consistently exceptional service delivery:
We are a global organisation built on local relationships.
OUR GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO EXCEPTIONAL CLIENT SERVICE MEANS THAT WE DELIVER WHAT WE PROMISE, WHEN YOU NEED IT
We are the most agile and responsive of the global accounting organisations.
We’re big enough to be able to access the best group of experts for your needs from our national and international network, and we’re small enough to be responsive and innovative in how we tackle our clients’ challenges. We can provide the perfect contact for your needs, no matter where in the world you are.
BDO is an international network of public accounting, tax and advisory firms which perform professional services under the name of BDO. Each BDO Member Firm is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, either as a voting or non-voting member.
Service provision within the international BDO network of independent members firms is coordinated by Brussels Worldwide Services BVBA, a limited liability company incorporated in Belgium with its statutory seat in Zaventem, where the BDO Global Office is located.
The BDO network is governed by the Council, the Global Board and the Executive of BDO International Limited.
To facilitate communication, coordination of actions and the sharing of best practice, BDO is divided into three regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa), Asia Pacific and Americas (Latin America, North America and Caribbean), each supported by a Regional Board.