The Accounting Expert Report Before the Commercial Court: Contents and Challenges

When a commercial dispute reaches a point where the answer is a number — settling accounts between partners, computing contested profits, valuing a share, measuring financial loss, examining a running account spanning years — the court does not decide the number itself. It refers the matter to an accounting expert, and that expert’s report becomes the document around which the case turns.

There is an irony familiar to anyone who has been through this process: almost everything written about accounting expert reports is written from a legal perspective, while the report itself is a professional accounting product with its own standards of preparation and documentation. A weak report usually fails on accounting grounds, not legal ones — an undocumented source for a figure, an undisclosed measurement basis, or a blurred line between what the documents prove and what the expert estimated.

What an accounting expert report is

It is a technical report prepared by a licensed certified public accountant, on appointment by the court or at the request of a party, answering specific accounting or financial questions relating to the subject of the dispute.

It is not a judgment, not a legal opinion, and not an audit report. The court holds the authority to assess the report and adopt it in whole, in part, or not at all. The expert’s task is to place before it a documented numerical basis that can be traced and answered.

How it differs from an auditor’s report

Aspect	Auditor’s report	Accounting expert report
Purpose	An opinion on the fair presentation of the financial statements as a whole	Answering specific questions posed by the court or raised by the dispute
Scope	The financial statements for a financial period	A particular matter or matters, which may span years or concern a single account
Addressees	Partners, shareholders and users of the statements	The court and the parties to the dispute
Standards	Auditing standards approved in the Kingdom	Professional accounting practice, within the terms of reference set by the court
Effect	A professional opinion published with the statements	Technical evidence subject to the court assessment and to challenge by the opposing party

When does a court appoint an accounting expert?

• Dissolving a partnership and settling accounts between partners, and determining each party’s entitlements on exit or winding up.
• Disputes over profits and distributions, including whether profits were in fact earned and withheld, or never earned at all.
• Valuing a share or a business in disputes over acquisition, exit or inheritance.
• Measuring financial loss arising from breach of contract or delay in performance.
• Construction contracts: progress certificates, variations, delay, and compensation claims.
• Long-running current accounts between two parties with no documented periodic settlement.
• Suspected embezzlement and financial manipulation and its effect on the financial position.
• Agency and distribution disputes and the computation of commissions and entitlements.

The framework within which the expert works

Recourse to expertise in disputes is regulated under the judicial system in the Kingdom, and the appointment and registration of experts are administered through the Ministry of Justice’s systems, including the Khibrah platform through which expertise requests are managed and experts are nominated to cases.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the terms of reference set out in the appointment decision define the boundaries of the expert’s work. Second, exceeding them — by answering questions that were not asked, or by expressing a legal opinion — is among the most common ways a report is weakened before the court.

What a coherent report contains

1. The terms of reference as stated in the appointment decision, reproduced verbatim rather than in the expert’s own wording.
2. The expert’s procedures: sessions held, parties in attendance, documents requested and received, and those not provided.
3. The documents relied upon, scheduled and numbered, identifying the source of each and the party that produced it.
4. The accounting basis applied, stated expressly: accrual or cash, valuation policies, and any rate or price used and where it came from.
5. The numerical analysis arranged in traceable schedules, so that any party can recompute from the same documents and arrive at the same result.
6. An express separation of the established from the estimated. What the documents prove is described as proven; what rests on estimate is described as an estimate, with its basis and the effect of changing its assumptions.
7. Limitations and reservations: what the expert could not verify and why.
8. The conclusion, answering the questions in the terms of reference in the same order, and no more.

Why reports are challenged, and how a report is fortified

Challenging the expert’s report is a normal part of the proceedings, and the grounds recur in a limited number of patterns:

Ground of challenge	What prevents it
Relying on a document from one party without allowing the other to examine and respond	Documenting that both parties were called, that documents were put to them, and recording their responses in the report
Failing to state the source of a material figure	Linking every figure to a numbered document in the schedule of documents
Blurring fact and estimate	Separating what is proven from what is estimated, and stating the basis and sensitivity of each estimate
Exceeding the terms of reference	Adhering literally to the questions in the appointment decision
Expressing a legal opinion	Confining the report to accounting and financial matters
Inability to recompute the result from the attached schedules	Presenting the analysis so that it can be recomputed step by step
Changing the accounting basis between periods without explanation	Stating the basis, applying it consistently, and explaining any change and its effect

The working rule: a report that can be recomputed is a report that is hard to challenge.

What a party engaging an expert should prepare

• Contracts, their annexes, and any subsequent amendments.
• Books, journal entries, trial balances and financial statements for the periods in dispute.
• Complete bank statements for the period, not extracts.
• Invoices, receipt and payment vouchers, and progress certificates.
• Correspondence and minutes documenting understandings not captured in the contract.
• Assembly minutes and partner resolutions relating to profits and capital.

Missing documents are not neutral: the expert records in the report what was requested and not provided, and that record carries weight in the court’s assessment.

Frequently asked questions

How we can help

Almousa & Altamimi, Certified Public Accountants and Auditors is licensed to practise accounting and audit in the Kingdom, and works in this field on two tracks: preparing accounting expert reports on court appointment or at a party’s request, and examining expert reports produced by others and preparing technical observations on them for parties who consider that a report rests on an unsound accounting basis.

See our litigation support reports service, or contact us to discuss your case. If the dispute involves suspected embezzlement or financial manipulation, see our guide to embezzlement and financial fraud investigation reports.

Quick reference: Glossary · FAQ

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This content is general guidance on the professional standards for preparing accounting expert reports. It is not a substitute for professional or legal advice on a specific dispute and does not constitute a legal opinion. Last updated: 14 September 2026.

What the law requires of the expert report

Chapter Ten of the Evidence Law governs expert evidence before the courts, and it is the benchmark against which an accounting expert report is measured:

• Appointment and scope: the court may, on its own motion or at a party’s request, appoint one or more experts to give an opinion on the technical questions the case turns on, with regard to the fit between the expert’s knowledge and the subject of the dispute; where the parties agree on an expert, the court endorses their agreement (Article 110). The appointment decision must state precisely the mission, the powers granted, and any urgent measures authorised (Article 111).
• Disclosure and impartiality: before starting, the expert must disclose any relationship with the parties or interest in the case; failing that, the court orders removal and repayment of what was received, and that judgment is final (Article 113). Any party may seek the expert’s recusal where impartiality is in doubt — kinship or affinity to the fourth degree, agency, employment by a party, or an existing dispute with one (Article 114).
• The contents of the report are mandatory by statute (Article 117): a statement of the mission as set out in the appointment decision; the work performed in detail, the parties’ statements, the documents and evidence they submitted and the technical analysis of them; the opinions of any experts consulted; and the result, the technical opinion and the grounds relied on, precisely and clearly. Where several experts are appointed they produce a single report stating any points of disagreement.
• Default and delay: if the expert does not start without an acceptable excuse or is late filing the report, a warning is issued within no more than five days, and if there is no response within five days of notification the court orders removal and repayment (Article 118). Documents received must be returned within ten days of the end of the mission, failing which a fine of up to SAR 10,000 applies (Article 119).

How the report is challenged in practice

A challenge is not a general objection to the conclusion; it uses what the law provides:

1. Questioning the expert: the court may, on its own motion or at a party’s request and at any stage, summon the expert to be examined orally or in writing and put any questions to them (Article 120).
2. Completing the work: it may order the expert to make good omissions and correct shortcomings or errors, add another expert alongside them, or appoint a different expert to complete the work (Article 120).
3. Departing from the report: the expert’s opinion does not bind the court; if it does not follow the report in whole or in part it must give its reasons in the judgment, and where the cause is the expert’s negligence or error it may order repayment of all or part of the fee (Article 121).
4. Prior agreement: the parties may agree, even before proceedings begin, to accept the expert’s conclusion, and the court gives effect to that agreement unless the report contains something contrary to public policy (Article 121/1) — so watch for that clause in contracts before signing.
5. The cost of the expert evidence is borne by the party that loses the claim it relates to, proportionately where the loss is partial, as the court sets out in its judgment (Article 122).

What best protects a report from challenge, then, is literal compliance with Article 117: every figure tied to its document, a written technical analysis of what the parties submitted, and clearly stated grounds rather than impressions.

Sources

• Evidence Law — Chapter Ten: Expert Evidence (Articles 108, 110–114 and 117–123)
• Companies Law (Royal Decree M/132) — Article 17 on accounting records and supporting documents