Are Auditors and Accountants DNFBPs in the UAE?
Yes. Under Cabinet Resolution 134 of 2025 (Article 3), independent accountants are a designated non-financial business and profession (DNFBP), and auditors and tax practitioners are treated the same way. You are in scope when you carry out or prepare certain transactions for a client, such as buying or selling real estate, managing assets or money, or forming and running companies. Advisory and audit work no longer sits outside the AML perimeter, and the Ministry of Economy supervises the sector.
When does an Accountant or Auditor Come into Scope?
You are caught by the AML rules when, for or on behalf of a client, you:
- Buy or sell real estate.
- Manage client money, securities or other assets.
- Manage bank, savings or securities accounts.
- Organise contributions for the creation, operation or management of companies.
- Create, operate or manage legal persons or arrangements, or buy and sell business entities.
Pure bookkeeping or general advice may fall outside these triggers, but the moment you carry out or prepare one of these transactions for a client, the full AML framework applies.
What AML Obligations do Accountants and Auditors Have?
As a DNFBP, an accounting or audit practice owes the full set of AML duties:
- Register on the FIU's goAML platform and appoint a compliance officer or MLRO.
- Carry out a business-wide risk assessment of your money-laundering exposure.
- Perform customer due diligence on clients and identify the beneficial owners.
- Apply enhanced due diligence to higher-risk clients, including PEPs.
- Screen clients against the UAE Local Terrorist List and the UN Consolidated List.
- Report suspicious transactions through goAML, and avoid tipping off the client.
- Keep records for at least five years and train your staff.
- Have the AML programme independently audited.
Money-Laundering Red Flags for Accountants and Auditors
A client reluctant to provide identity, ownership or source-of-funds information.
- Complex or opaque structures with no clear commercial or tax rationale.
- Transactions or company structures that do not fit the client's profile or business.
- Funds or counterparties connected to high-risk jurisdictions.
- Requests to record transactions in a way that obscures their real nature.
- Round-tripping of funds or unexplained loans between related parties.
- A client in a hurry to complete, or unwilling to explain, an unusual transaction.
About this AML Course for Accountants and Auditors
This practical course teaches accountants, auditors and tax practitioners what the UAE AML framework requires of them. You learn why your profession is a DNFBP, which client activities bring you into scope, and how to build the controls the law expects, from customer due diligence and screening to suspicious-transaction reporting and record-keeping. It is grounded in the UAE framework, Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 and Cabinet Resolution 134 of 2025, but the gatekeeper duties for accountants are a global FATF standard. Practitioner-led, with a certificate on completion. You can start free.
What you will Learn in this AML Course
By the end of the course you will be able to:
Explain why accountants and auditors are DNFBPs in the UAE.
Identify the client activities that bring your practice into AML scope.
Perform customer due diligence and identify beneficial owners.
Apply enhanced due diligence to higher-risk clients and PEPs.
Recognise the red flags that arise in accounting and audit work.
Report suspicious transactions through goAML without tipping off the client.
Why this AML Course is Worth your Time
Accountants and auditors see the financial reality behind a client's business, which is exactly why the law treats them as gatekeepers, and why regulators expect them to act when something looks wrong. The Ministry of Economy has fined accountants and other DNFBPs as part of a wider enforcement drive, and advisory or audit work is no longer treated as outside the AML perimeter. Knowing your duties protects your practice and your professional standing.
The obligations are set out in law. Independent accountants are DNFBPs under Cabinet Resolution 134 of 2025 (Article 3), and must run a full AML programme: risk assessment, customer due diligence, screening, suspicious-transaction reporting through goAML under Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 (Article 18), and record-keeping. The gatekeeper role for accountants is a global standard, so the skills travel.
Practical takeaway
You will know when to file a REAR, how to do due diligence on a property deal, and how to keep your brokerage inspection-ready.AML Course Curriculum for Accountants and Auditors
Who Should Take this Course
Independent accountants, auditors and audit-firm partners, tax practitioners, and the compliance officers and staff of accounting and audit practices. No prior AML qualification is needed. The course is built around the UAE framework but is useful in any FATF-aligned regime.
What you Get
- A practical, self-paced online course you can complete in a single focused session.
- A certificate of completion you can keep as evidence of training.
- A client-engagement compliance routine you can apply straight away.
By the end of this course you will know when your practice is in scope, how to run due diligence on a client engagement, and when and how to report a concern under UAE law. Equip yourself and your team to meet your gatekeeper duties, avoid the penalties hitting the sector, and protect your professional standing. Join us and make AML part of how your practice works.
Why Choose Pro AML Courses
Learn from the Pro
I am Garima, a Chartered Accountant specialising in Anti-Money Laundering and financial crime compliance. I support regulated entities across multiple jurisdictions with AML/CFT/CPF consulting, compliance advisory, risk-based assessments, and the implementation of effective compliance controls.
My training approach emphasises conceptual clarity and practical application, enabling compliance professionals to navigate regulatory frameworks and make informed AML decisions in dynamic compliance environments.
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Why learn with Pro AML Training
ProAML Training is part of NIYEAHMA's AMLVerse, a global AML compliance ecosystem that connects consulting, regulatory knowledge and technology, including the consulting practice AML UAE. Courses are built and taught by practising compliance professionals, among them founder Pathik Shah (FCA, CAMS, CISA), who brings more than 28 years in governance, risk and compliance. That means the material is practical, current and grounded in real casework rather than recycled theory.
- Practitioner-led: written and delivered by working AML professionals, not generalist course writers.
- Practical and job-ready: focused on what you do at your desk, with real red flags, templates and worked examples.
- Current: kept in step with FATF standards and the latest national rules, so you are not learning last year's framework.
- Globally relevant: principles apply across jurisdictions, with strong depth in high-demand markets such as the UAE.