You’re making sales. Your books are up to date. Your accountant says everything looks “fine.” So why does your cash feel tight, and your growth feel stuck?
Because there’s a critical part of your business hiding in plain sight — and your accountant probably isn’t talking about it: your margins.
Let’s fix that.
🧩 Profit ≠ Margin
Most small businesses in the UAE check one number: net profit.
But net profit only tells part of the story. To truly understand the health of your business, you need to zoom in on your margins — especially your gross margin and contribution margin.
Here’s why they matter:
- Gross Margin tells you how much money is left after producing your goods or services.
- Contribution Margin shows what’s left after variable costs — what actually funds your business.
If either margin is too thin, you’ll feel busy… but broke.
⚠️ Why Your Accountant Isn’t Talking About Margins
Most accountants are focused on compliance — not clarity.
They:
- File your VAT
- Reconcile your books
- Send you a profit & loss report once a month
But they’re not paid (or trained) to dig deeper and ask:
“Are your products priced right?”
“Are your services scalable?”
“Are you leaking money with every sale?”
That’s the job of a finance advisor — someone who sees beyond the numbers.
🔍 The Margin Mistakes We See Every Day
At Merzaai, we work with growing businesses in the UAE, and here are the 4 margin blind spots we uncover constantly:
1. Bundled Costs That Hide the Truth
When fixed and variable costs are lumped together, it’s impossible to know what each sale actually earns.
🔧 Fix: Separate your variable costs from your fixed costs to get a true gross margin per product or service.
2. Pricing Without Data
Many founders pick a price based on the market or emotion — not cost structure or margin target.
📈 Fix: Reverse-engineer your price based on your target margin — not just what competitors charge.
3. High Revenue, Low Contribution
You’re growing revenue but your contribution margin is shrinking. That means scaling is making you poorer.
🔍 Fix: Track contribution margin by product line or customer segment, then cut or raise prices strategically.
4. VAT Eating Into Profits
If you’re not separating VAT correctly or underpricing to “include VAT,” you may be losing up to 5% of margin every time.
🧾 Fix: Structure your invoices and pricing strategy to protect your margins post-VAT.
🧠 Margins Are a Strategic Tool — Not Just a Number
When you understand your margins:
- You stop guessing at prices
- You stop blaming cash flow
- You know exactly where to grow, and where to cut
Margins let you build a business that’s not just busy, but profitable.
Ready to Uncover Your Real Margins?
At Merzaai Advisory & Accounting, we go beyond bookkeeping.
We help founders get crystal clear on:
- Which products make money (and which don’t)
- How to price for sustainable growth
- Where to plug margin leaks before they bleed you dry
💬 Book a free Finance Clarity Call — we’ll review your cost structure and margins together, and show you the fastest fix for stronger cash and smarter decisions.
Because your accountant might not tell you this — but we will.
