Most finance teams in the Kingdom have the ZATCA return firmly in the diary. The Qawaem filing gets less attention, until June comes round and the audited accounts still aren't signed.
Qawaem financial statements filing is how a Saudi company puts its annual accounts on public record. If the filing is late or missing, the company can be fined under the Companies Law. The rules below are current as of October 2026.
The platform and what goes on it
Qawaem (qawaem.bc.gov.sa) is the Ministry of Commerce's programme for filing company financial statements with the Saudi Business Center. The Implementing Regulations of the Companies Law require the annual financial statements to be deposited through it, together with the auditor's report where the company has one (Implementing Regulations, Article 4).
The six-month deadline
Financial statements are filed within six months of the end of the financial year, and this applies to all types of companies (Ministry of Commerce). With a 31 December year end, the last day is 30 June of the following year. For the 2024 financial year, the Ministry confirmed 30 June 2025 as the deadline (Ministry of Commerce, in Arabic).
The ZATCA date comes much earlier. Zakat and corporate income tax returns are due within 120 days of the year end, which is 30 April for a December company (ZATCA). The return uses the same numbers, so the accounts really need to be ready by April. A December year-end company that only starts its audit in April is already squeezed.
Who has to file
The Ministry names who is responsible, and the answer depends on the company type.
In an LLC, the manager or board of managers prepares and files the statements. In an unlisted joint-stock company, the board prepares them and the chairman files. For a simplified joint-stock company it is the chairman, the manager or the board, depending on its structure. In a partnership, it falls to the manager or the partners.
LLCs and joint-stock companies have two more dates to plan around. The statements must be available to the auditor, if there is one, at least 45 days before the annual general assembly, and to partners or shareholders at least 21 days before it (Ministry of Commerce). Fix the assembly date first and count back from there.
Fines for late or missing filings
If a company does not prepare its statements under the accounting standards approved in the Kingdom, or does not file them, it can be fined up to SAR 500,000 under Article 262 of the Companies Law (Ministry of Commerce). A missing filing can also hold up other government services. Banks and investors notice too.
Why filings slip
The upload itself is rarely the problem. Delays usually start in January.
Provisions and end-of-service benefits get trued up at the last minute, along with accruals, so the audit starts late. The trial balance then has to map to Qawaem's fixed template, which takes time if the chart of accounts was never built for it.
Foreign-owned companies often keep a group reporting pack and separate Saudi statutory accounts, and only reconcile the two at year end.
Often nobody owns the deadline. The ZATCA return, the audit sign-off and the Qawaem upload sit with different people.
A timetable for a December year end
The calendar we suggest:
- January: close the books and true up provisions and end-of-service benefits.
- February to March: finish the audit and sign the statements.
- By 30 April: file the zakat or corporate income tax return with ZATCA.
- Before 30 June: upload the statements and auditor's report to Qawaem.
If the audit drifts into April, both deadlines land on the same team at once.
Working with FCG
FCG advises on your year-end calendar and Qawaem readiness. The hands-on work is done by our associate firm Gadwalah CPA, a licensed Saudi audit firm, which handles the bookkeeping, statutory audit and filings, so everything runs on one calendar.
Read more about our Auditing services and Accounting & Bookkeeping.
Book a free consultation and we will map your year-end deadlines with you.
