Bookkeeping in Switzerland: Legal Duties and What to Outsource

What Swiss bookkeeping law requires

The Code of Obligations requires a company to keep accounts that record its transactions and allow its financial position and results to be assessed. Article 957 sets the scope of the accounting duty; Article 957a describes the principles of proper accounting. Entries should be complete, traceable and supported by underlying documents, with business and private transactions kept distinct.

As of November 2026, a sole proprietorship or partnership with annual turnover below CHF 500,000 may use simplified records of income, expenditure and financial position. A Swiss company such as an AG or GmbH must keep full accounts irrespective of turnover. The simplified option changes the form of the records; it does not remove the need to support business transactions or meet tax and reporting duties.

What the annual accounts must show

Annual financial statements are prepared for each business year under Article 958 CO. They include a balance sheet and an income statement, with notes where the law requires them. The statements should present a reliable view of the company’s assets, liabilities, results and financial position, rather than a collection of unconnected transactions.

The bookkeeping system should reconcile the bank account, receivables, payables, payroll, inventory where applicable and tax-related balances. The company should be able to trace a reported figure back to its source document and explain significant judgements. This makes year-end close, management review and tax reporting depend on the same records rather than separate spreadsheets.

Keep accounting books, supporting documents and business correspondence for ten years under Article 958f CO. A company should make sure that records remain readable, retrievable and connected to the accounting entry they support.

How bookkeeping supports the wider tax position

Bookkeeping provides the evidence used in corporate tax and indirect-tax reporting. Revenue, expenses, accruals and asset movements recorded in the ledger should reconcile to the company’s financial statements and returns. Our guides to Swiss corporate tax and the Swiss tax system explain the separate tax questions that sit on top of the books.

Payroll, VAT and withholding-tax entries also need a documented trail. A provider can prepare calculations or filings, but the business must give accurate source data, approve decisions reserved to management and keep the supporting documents available.

Which bookkeeping tasks a company can outsource

A company can outsource recurring transaction processing, ledger maintenance, reconciliations, payroll records, VAT reporting support and preparation of year-end accounts. The provider’s scope should describe the records it receives, the work it performs, the reviews it carries out and the deliverables returned to the company.

Outsourcing works best when the company keeps responsibility for source documents and approvals clear. Agree how invoices are captured, who approves payments, how bank and control accounts are reconciled, who reviews unusual entries and how missing information is escalated. Keep access to the accounting records under company control and make sure the provider can return them in a usable format if the mandate ends.

Management should review periodic reports and ask about unreconciled balances, unusual movements and deadlines. An external bookkeeper can perform accounting work, but the directors remain responsible for the company’s statutory duties and the accuracy of its records.

How to choose an in-house or outsourced process

A company should compare the volume and complexity of its transactions with the skills and review time available internally. A simple business may keep daily records itself and ask an external accountant to review the close. A group with payroll, multiple entities, inventory or cross-border transactions may need a more structured monthly process and a clear division between preparation and approval.

Choose a system and workflow that preserve an audit trail. Set a regular close calendar, reconcile key accounts and keep a record of who prepared and reviewed each material entry. The objective is not software choice alone; it is a set of books that supports decisions and can be explained to the board, auditor or tax authority.

When this does not apply

The statutory bookkeeping duty and this guide’s outsourcing discussion do not replace a separate assessment of the company’s audit requirement, tax position, group reporting basis or sector-specific reporting rules. The simplified bookkeeping threshold applies only to the eligible business forms described above and does not reduce the duties of an incorporated company.

Keep one reliable accounting record

A company can make bookkeeping more dependable by assigning responsibility for source documents, reconciliation, approval and review, then keeping those steps on a recurring calendar. The Swiss tax and accounting guides cover the connected reporting questions, while the records remain the foundation for each return and financial statement.