IBefore anything is signed
The first conversation
It costs nothing, and it sometimes ends with us saying no.
Why MAC / How we work
No surprises. That is the whole method.
How an engagement runs at Muhammad Abbas & Co. — from the first conversation to the point where you decide whether to keep working with us.
Most complaints about professional firms are not about technical quality. They are about not knowing what was happening, not knowing what it would cost, not being able to reach the person in charge, and finding out about a problem in the final report. Everything below exists to prevent those four things.
You will speak to a partner, director, or the team lead who would run the work — not a business development manager, and not an account handler.
We will ask what you are trying to solve, what has already been tried, what your deadlines are and who else is involved. We will usually ask to see something: last year's accounts, the notice you received, the structure you are considering. Thirty minutes with a document tells us more than an hour of description.
One of three things follows. We tell you what we would do and roughly what it would cost. We tell you the problem is smaller than you thought and how to handle it yourself. Or we tell you it is not work we should take — because it needs a specialism we do not have, or because accepting it would create an independence issue.
That third outcome is not a failure of the meeting. A firm that never declines anything has no basis for the work it accepts.
IIThe engagement
Five stages, and what actually happens in each
01
Understand
We spend time on your business before scoping anything: what it does, how it makes money, where the pressure is, who the stakeholders are, what has gone wrong before. For an audit that means your industry and control environment. For tax, your structure and history with the authorities. For accounting, what decisions the numbers are meant to support.
What you getA conversation, not a questionnaire.
02
Design
A written scope: deliverables, timelines, who does what, the assumptions we are relying on, what is excluded, and the fee. Agreed before work starts. Where the scope changes, we tell you before we act on it — not afterwards in an invoice.
What you getAn engagement letter you can hold us to.
03
Execute
Partner-led and risk-based. Effort concentrated where your exposure is greatest rather than spread evenly for the sake of appearances. A named lead runs the day-to-day work; the partner reviews throughout, not only at the end.
What you getTwo people you deal with regularly and one partner accountable throughout.
04
Communicate
An agreed reporting rhythm from the start. Issues raised when we find them, not saved for the report. If we hit something that changes the picture — a control failure, an exposure, a number that will not reconcile — you hear it that week.
What you getNo surprises at the reporting date.
05
Deliver and continue
The deliverable, a debrief on what we found and what we would do about it, and a plan for the next cycle. Most engagements here recur, and the second year is materially more efficient than the first because the understanding is already built.
What you getA firm that knows your business next time you call.
IIIYour team
Three people. You will know all of them
Larger firms staff engagements in layers, and the layer you meet is rarely the layer doing the work.
01
The partner
Scopes the engagement, makes the technical calls, reviews the file, signs the report. Reachable directly — not through a coordinator, and not only at year-end.
02
The engagement lead
Runs the work day to day, at manager or supervisor level. This is who you email about a missing document or a changed date, and who knows the state of your file at any moment.
03
The specialist
Tax, legal, IT governance, valuation or sustainability — drawn in when the problem crosses into their discipline. You are told who they are and why they are involved.
You will have all three names, and direct contact details for the first two, before fieldwork begins.
IVStaying informed
You should never have to ask where things stand
01
A response within one business day
To any email or call, from someone who can actually answer — even if the answer is that we need more time.
02
A reporting rhythm agreed at the start
Weekly, fortnightly or at milestones, depending on the engagement. Written, so there is a record.
03
Issues raised the week we find them
Not held back for the final report. A finding you learn about early is a problem you can still fix; the same finding at the reporting date is a disclosure.
04
One escalation route, and it is short
Engagement lead, then partner, then Managing Partner. There is no third layer to get lost in.
VWhat it costs
How we price
Fee disputes almost always trace back to a scope that was never written down. We write it down.
| Model | Used for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed fee | Statutory audit, tax returns, company registration, corporate filings, most recurring compliance | A single agreed fee for a defined deliverable. The most common arrangement, because you can budget it. |
| Retainer | Outsourced accounting, payroll, virtual CFO, ongoing tax compliance | A monthly fee for an agreed scope of recurring work. |
| Time-based | Advisory, forensic, due diligence, dispute support | Agreed rates with an estimated range and a cap we will not exceed without discussing it with you first. |
| Per unit | Global Delivery for accounting practices | Per return, per file, or per FTE month, depending on the arrangement. |
Three things we will always do
- Tell you the fee before the work starts, in writing
- Tell you before we exceed it if the scope changes, never afterwards
- Bill against the engagement letter, so every invoice traces to something you agreed
One thing we will not do
Quote a fee we know is unrealistic in order to win the work, then rebuild it through variations. It is a common practice and it is why clients distrust fee estimates. An underpriced engagement gets under-resourced, and that is a quality problem before it is a commercial one.
VIYour side
Engagements run late for predictable reasons
The largest cause of delay is rarely the firm. It is information arriving late, in pieces, from someone who was not told they were responsible for it.
01
A named contact on your side
With authority to answer questions and chase internally.
02
Records in a reasonable state before fieldwork
Reconciled, or with the gaps identified.
03
Timely access
To systems, ledgers, contracts, minutes and third-party confirmations.
04
Early notice of anything unusual
A disputed balance, a related-party transaction, a regulatory issue, a change in ownership. We will find it eventually; finding it early is cheaper for you.
05
Realistic deadlines set together
Not imposed on either side.
We will tell you at scoping what we need and when. If it is going to be difficult, say so then — we would rather build a longer timeline than miss a shorter one.
VIIDisagreements
What happens when you are not happy
Engagements sometimes go wrong. A deadline slips, a judgement is contested, a fee is disputed. What matters is what happens next.
- 01Raise it with the engagement lead
Most issues are misunderstandings about scope or timing and resolve within a day.
- 02Escalate to the partner
If it is not resolved, or if the issue is with the engagement lead, the partner takes it. Directly, not through an intermediary.
- 03Escalate to the Managing Partner
For anything unresolved at partner level.
- 04Beyond us
If you remain dissatisfied with the conduct of a chartered accountant, ICAP maintains a disciplinary jurisdiction over its members and its firms, and you are entitled to use it.
That last route exists whether or not we mention it. Mentioning it is how you know we take the first three seriously.
VIIICommon questions
Before you ask
How quickly can you start?
For compliance work with a deadline, usually within days. For audit, timing depends on your year-end and our existing commitments — we will tell you honestly at the first conversation whether we can meet your date. We would rather decline than accept and deliver late.
Can you take over from our current firm?
Yes. Professional etiquette requires us to communicate with the outgoing firm before accepting, which we handle. The transition is routine and we will tell you what it involves.
Do you work with businesses our size?
Our clients range from owner-managed businesses to international groups and public sector bodies. The engagement is scaled to the entity; the standard applied is not.
Will we deal with the same people each year?
Yes, subject to independence requirements which in some cases mandate rotation. Where rotation applies we will explain why and introduce the incoming lead properly.
Do you work remotely, or do you need to be on site?
Both, depending on the engagement. Audit fieldwork usually requires site presence. Accounting, tax and advisory work is frequently remote — and our Gulf and international engagements are delivered entirely so.
What if we only need help once?
That is a legitimate engagement. One-off work — a valuation, a due diligence, a notice response, a registration — is scoped and priced the same way as recurring work, and we do not condition it on a longer relationship.
What happens to our data when the engagement ends?
It is retained for 10 years in accordance with professional and statutory record-retention requirements, under the same access controls that applied during the engagement. Confidentiality obligations survive the end of the engagement permanently.
Let's work together
Start with the first conversation.
Thirty minutes, no fee, no obligation, and an honest answer about whether we are the right firm for what you need.