ERP Business Analyst for Kuwait

Writing requirements for a group without a VAT return

Kuwait has, to my understanding, not put a general VAT into effect, though GCC-level discussion continues and positions can shift. Check the current position with the Ministry of Finance guidance and your tax advisor before the design is closed. Some Kuwaiti companies may also carry other obligations, for example levies linked to listed status or income tax for certain foreign-owned entities. Which of these touches your group is a question for your advisor, not for me.

Without a VAT return to organize around, I build the requirement set around control. For a group that usually means:

• An entity register: every legal company, its activity, its bank accounts and who signs for it.
• Intercompany rules: which sales, recharges, loans and shared costs are allowed, how they are priced and how both sides are posted.
• Delegation of authority: approval limits per company and per document type, including what the owners approve personally.
• Audit evidence: what the external auditor of each company needs to see without staff exporting data by hand.
• Tax readiness: fields and codes that can be activated if a tax is introduced, so the change is configuration rather than reimplementation.

The approach mirrors my general ERP requirements gathering method, adjusted to group structures.

Franchise brands and commercial agencies: requirement patterns

Kuwait has a large franchise sector in food, fashion and consumer goods, and many groups hold commercial agencies for international manufacturers. Both create requirements that standard retail or distribution templates do not fully cover.

For franchise operators, I map how each outlet sells, how it is replenished from a central kitchen or warehouse, how wastage and staff meals are recorded and how cash, card and delivery app settlements are reconciled. Then come the brand-level requirements: margins per brand and per outlet, royalty and marketing fee calculations as defined in each franchise agreement, and the periodic reports the franchisor expects in its own format.

For agency businesses, the principal relationship drives the detail. I record requirements for importing against principal price lists, landed cost, serial or batch tracking, warranty claims raised back to the manufacturer, rebates and support payments that need to be claimed, and sell-out or stock reports sent to the principal.

Point-of-sale and delivery platform integrations are documented with their data, frequency and owner. The resulting ERP gap analysis shows which platforms handle these patterns natively and where an add-on would be needed.

Ministry contracts and public tender documentation

Contracting and supply companies in Kuwait often sell to ministries and public bodies through formal tenders. Winning the contract is only the start; the paperwork that follows is where cash gets delayed. When I map this part of the business, I treat documentation as a requirement area in its own right.

Typical requirements include a tender register showing documents purchased, submissions made, outcomes and the guarantee posted for each bid; a guarantee schedule with issuing bank, expiry and release conditions; contract records linked to ministry purchase orders and their amendments; delivery and acceptance records signed by the receiving department; and invoices that reference those records in the format the client expects, in Arabic where required.

Receivables from public clients can take a long time to collect, so I also specify aging and follow-up reports by ministry and contract, and cash flow views that show which approvals are holding payment. Payroll requirements for staff on these contracts, including social security data for Kuwaiti employees through PIFSS, are captured alongside. These maps follow my ERP process mapping method; for platform and delivery support see the ERP consultant page for Kuwait.

Remote interviews with owners, finance and branch staff

In a family group, the owners' view comes first. I hold an early session with the owners or their chief financial officer to agree what the group needs to see and which decisions they want to keep. After that I interview each company's finance, sales, purchasing and operations leads, and then the people closest to the transactions, such as outlet managers, storekeepers and collection staff.

Everything is online. Sessions are booked within Kuwaiti business hours from Sunday to Thursday, leaving the Friday and Saturday weekend alone, and timed around Ramadan schedules and month-end. Arabic-speaking staff can answer in Arabic, and the BRD carries an agreed Arabic glossary for document names and statuses so the requirements read correctly to everyone who signs them.

I have no presence in Kuwait, and any visit would be agreed by arrangement only. Each company signs off its own section, and group finance signs the shared rules, which gives a clear record when an implementer later asks what was in scope. The document structure is described on my BRD consulting page, and the Kuwait overview covers my other services there.