Shared Services Centre (SSC) in UAE | Virtual Accountants

Centralised, professional back‑office support for finance, HR, tax and operations – delivered by a UAE‑based expert team.

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What Is a Shared Services Centre (SSC)?

A Shared Services Centre (SSC) is a central team that handles common, repeatable business processes – such as accounting, HR, payroll, procurement and compliance – for the whole organisation instead of each department doing everything on its own. 

Instead of multiple small finance or HR teams working differently in each entity or branch, an SSC uses standard processes, common systems and agreed service levels to deliver these activities from one place.

We combine Big 4 experience, deep UAE regulatory knowledge and a virtual delivery model tailored to SMEs, family groups and fast‑growing businesses.

Centralised Support for Finance, HR & Operations

In practical terms, an SSC can:

  • Process invoices, payments, collections and reconciliations Run monthly payroll, leave and employee data administration
  • Support VAT, Corporate Tax and Excise compliance
  • Handle purchase orders, vendor onboarding and matching
  • Maintain SOPs, policies and internal controls for core processes

The outcome is a back office that is more consistent, more transparent and easier to scale as your business grows.

Shared Services Centre vs Traditional Outsourcing

A traditional outsourcing model often sends work to a third‑party provider that works mostly on their own processes.

A Shared Services Centre is different:

  • It is set up as a dedicated service unit aligned to your business
  • It follows your policies, your systems and your approvals
  • It can be operated fully by your own people, a partner like us, or a hybrid model

At Virtual Accountants LLC, we provide a managed SSC service – combining your internal knowledge with our experienced team, proven frameworks and technology‑enabled workflows.

Our Shared Services Centre Services

We design and run a Shared Services Centre that fits your size, structure and growth plans. Our SSC model covers several core functional “towers”.

Our Shared Services Centre Services

We design and run a Shared Services Centre that fits your size, structure and growth plans. Our SSC model covers several core functional “towers”.

Finance & Accounting Shared Services

Centralised finance operations to keep your numbers accurate, timely and audit‑ready.

Typical scope:

  • Accounts Payable (AP): vendor invoice capture, coding and approval tracking
  • Accounts Receivable (AR): invoicing, collections support and customer reconciliations
  • General Ledger: postings, accruals and month‑end support
  • Bank & Balance Sheet Reconciliations
  • High‑volume data entry and transaction processing
  • Management reporting support and MIS packs

This is ideal for businesses that want the benefits of a strong finance team without building a large in‑house department in every location.

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HR & Payroll Shared Services

A central HR operations team that ensures employee data and payroll are handled correctly and consistently.

Typical scope:

  • Monthly payroll processing and salary file preparation
  • Leave, attendance and overtime administration
  • Employee master data and document management
  • Onboarding and offboarding documentation support
  • Standard HR letters (salary certificates, NOCs, etc.)
  • Coordination with internal HR / PRO teams

This helps your HR leaders focus on people, culture and retention, while we manage the administrative engine in the background. 

Tax & Compliance Shared Services

UAE tax rules are evolving quickly. Our SSC helps you stay compliant by keeping data clean and documentation organised.

Typical scope:

  • Data preparation for VAT returns
  • Support for Corporate Tax calculations and working papers
  • Excise tax documentation support (where relevant)
  • Maintaining tax records, reconciliations and audit trails
  • Compliance calendars and reminders for key due dates
  • Coordination with your tax advisors and auditors

You keep final sign‑off and decision‑making. We take care of the heavy lifting in the background.

Procurement & Vendor Shared Services

A shared procurement support function that standardises purchase‑to‑pay processes.

Typical scope:

  • Processing purchase requests and purchase orders (POs)
  • Vendor onboarding and vendor master data management
  • Matching POs, GRNs and supplier invoices
  • Vendor reconciliations and query handling
  • Support for payment runs and approval workflows
  • Spend visibility through basic reports and dashboards

This reduces leakage, duplication and process delays – and ensures your finance team gets clean, matched data.

Process, Policies & Controls

No SSC works without clear processes and rules. We help you design, document and maintain them.

Typical scope:

  • End‑to‑end process mapping for finance, HR, procurement and tax
  • Drafting and updating SOPs, policies and work instructions
  • Internal control checkpoints built into daily workflows
  • Standard templates, forms and checklists
  • Training for your team on “how work should flow”
  • Continuous improvement reviews as your business changes

This creates a single, consistent way of working across all companies and locations.

Benefits of a Shared Services Centre for Your Business

Lower Cost, Higher Efficiency

By consolidating work into one SSC team instead of multiple separate teams, you can: 

  • Reduce duplicated effort and overhead
  • Use standard tools and templates across entities
  • Benefit from specialised staff who repeat processes and get faster over time

For many organisations, this leads to significant cost savings and better use of senior management time.

Stronger Controls & Compliance

A centralised model makes it easier to:

  • Apply thesame approval rules and authority across the group
  • Maintain audit‑ready documentation and logs
  • Track performance with clear KPIs and SLAs
  • Demonstrate consistent, documented processes to auditors, banks and regulators
    Better Visibility & Decision‑Making

With all transactions processed through a central team, you gain:

  • Group‑wide visibility over cash, payables, receivables and headcount
  • Faster, more reliable management reporting
  • Clearer insight into where processes break and where to improve

This supports better decisions by your CFO, CEO and Board.

Why Build Your SSC with Virtual Accountants LLC?

Virtual Accountants LLC is a UAE‑registered accounting firm represented by Chartered and Certified Accountants with more than 15 years of experience.  The firm specialises in remote and on‑site accounting, bookkeeping and VAT services for clients across the UAE. 

Our Shared Services Centre offering builds on that foundation.

Senior SSC Leadership Experience

One of our colleagues has held senior leadership roles in large Shared Services Centres, and we embed that practical experience into every engagement – from design and organisation structure to SLAs, KPIs and governance.

UAE Focused, Virtual by Design

  • Based in Dubai, serving clients across the UAE and beyond
  • Built for virtual and hybrid delivery, aligned with your tools and time zones
  • Understanding of local regulations, labour law and tax requirements

Technology‑Agnostic, Process‑First

We work with the accounting, HR and ERP systems you already use (for example QuickBooks, Zoho, Xero or custom ERPs), and focus on:

  • Cleaning and structuring your data and processes
  • Reducing manual work through simple automation where possible
  • Ensuring your SSC model is practical, not over‑engineered

How Our Shared Services Centre Engagement Works

1. Assessment & SSC Design

We start with a structured review of:

  • Your current teams (finance, HR, procurement, tax)
  • Existing processes, volumes and pain points
  • Entities, locations and growth plans

From there we propose a target SSC model – what to centralise, what to keep local, expected benefits and phasing.

2. Transition & Knowledge Transfer

Once the model is agreed, we:

  • Document and standardise processes and SOPs
  • Set up shared inboxes, tools, workflows and SLAs
  • Train our SSC team and your internal stakeholders
  • Migrate tasks in waves to reduce disruption

You can start small (for example, AP + payroll only) and scale as confidence grows.

 3. Steady‑State Operations & Improvement

After go‑live, we operate your SSC with:

  • Clear KPIs, reporting and regular check‑ins
  • Ongoing optimisation of processes and templates
  • Support for new entities, acquisitions or system changes

You get a reliable, scalable back office – without having to build and manage everything yourself.

Trusted Expertise in UAE Regulatory Compliance

We’re always on the same page with Government Agencies, working together to get the job done!

Accounting Software We Use

We’re always on the same page with Government Agencies, working together to get the job done!

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Proven Results Shared by Our Clients

FAQs

Shared Services Centre in the UAE
Do we need to be a very large organisation to benefit from an SSC?

No. While SSCs are common in large groups, the same principles work very well for fast‑growing SMEs and family groups. We can start with a lean SSC focused only on finance or payroll and expand over time.

Can we start with only one function, like Finance or Payroll?

Yes. Many clients begin with Finance Shared Services or HR & Payroll Shared Services and add procurement or tax later. The model is modular – you don’t need to centralise everything on day one.

How will your SSC work with our existing CFO or HR Manager?

We see our SSC as an extension of your team, not a replacement. Your CFO / HR lead retains overall responsibility and decision‑making, while our team handles agreed operational work with clear SOPs, SLAs and escalation paths.

Is a virtual SSC secure?

Yes – we follow data confidentiality, access control and backup practices aligned with reputable cloud tools and your internal policies. We can also work with your IT team to align on additional security requirements.

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Our Locations

Office - Dubai

Office 609, 6th Floor, Al Moosa Tower 1, Trade Centre 1, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE

Office - Sharjah

Sharjah Media City (Shams), Al Messaned, Al Bataeh,   Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.