The numbers arrive too late to act on
Management accounts close weeks after month end, so every decision is made against a picture that has already moved.
Fractional CFO services, Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Financial leadership for companies that have outgrown their finance function.
Meraki provides fractional CFO capability to established UAE businesses. Board grade reporting, funding readiness and cash discipline, without a full time CFO on the payroll.
Led personally by Dr. Tariq Ali, working with companies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on retained mandates.
Author of Beyond the Rearview Mirror: How a Fractional CFO Turns Financial Blind Spots into Growth.
Principal led
Every mandate held personally, never delegated to juniors
Doctorate level
Academic grounding behind commercial recommendations
UAE focused
Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with the regulatory detail that matters here
Retained, not employed
Executive capability at a fraction of a full time cost
The trigger point
Three situations that bring companies to us
None of them are accounting problems. All of them are control problems.
A ten question self assessment establishes which of these applies to you.
The bank asks for what you cannot produce quickly
Facility renewals, shareholder questions and audits all demand forecasts, covenant workings and reconciliations at short notice.
Growth has outrun the structure
Revenue has scaled, the finance function has not, and the owner is still the only real control in the business.
Scope
Where we take responsibility
A defined mandate with named deliverables and a fixed monthly fee, agreed before the engagement starts.
Full scope of services01
Reporting the board can act on
A monthly pack that closes on time, reconciles, and carries the commentary a shareholder or lender actually reads.
02
Cash and working capital
Rolling cash forecasting, receivable and payable discipline, and visibility of the funding gap before it becomes urgent.
03
Funding and banking relationships
Credit facility preparation, lender negotiation and the financial narrative that supports the request.
04
Margin and performance
Product, project and contract level profitability, so pricing and cost decisions rest on evidence rather than instinct.
Method
How an engagement runs
Every mandate begins with a paid diagnostic. Scope is written down before any retainer starts, so both sides know what is being bought.
Fees are fixed monthly. There is no hourly billing, no scope that quietly expands, and a documented exit built into the engagement from the start.
01
Diagnostic
A structured review of reporting, cash, controls, systems and finance team capability, delivered as a written findings document with a prioritised action list.
02
Mandate
A defined retained mandate with named deliverables and decision rights.
03
Delivery
A reporting cadence and control framework that supports management decisions.
04
Exit
A documented handover when the finance function can operate independently.
“The finance function exists to make the next decision clearer than the last.”
Begin with a conversation
A finance function should give the owner a clear view of the business.
A first conversation is confidential and practical. We will establish whether the mandate is a fit before discussing scope.