For most tradespeople, bookkeeping is the least-loved chapter of self-employment. The good news: the workload is predictable once the roles are clear. You supply clean base data, your accountant turns it into the year-end accounts and tax return. The better your prep work, the smaller the accountant’s bill.
Which bookkeeping obligation applies to your business?
Swiss company law (Art. 957 of the Code of Obligations) distinguishes two worlds:
- Sole proprietorships and partnerships under CHF 500’000 annual turnover: simplified bookkeeping is enough, commonly called “cashbook accounting” (Milchbüechli-Rechnung): recording income, expenses, and net worth. No chart of accounts or balance sheet required.
- LLCs (GmbH), corporations (AG), and sole proprietorships from CHF 500’000 turnover: double-entry bookkeeping with a balance sheet, income statement, and notes, following the usual standards (SME chart of accounts).
Regardless of legal form: keep records for 10 years, digital storage is allowed. And anyone with turnover above CHF 100’000 is liable for VAT; what that means is covered in the guide VAT for Swiss trades.
The documents your accountant expects
Whether it’s the annual accounts or a VAT return, the shopping list is always similar:
- All outgoing invoices with status (paid, outstanding), ideally as a sequentially numbered list.
- All supplier and expense receipts, matched to account movements.
- Bank statements for the business account, complete and unbroken.
- Outstanding items as of the cut-off date: accounts receivable (who owes you) and accounts payable (who you owe).
- Payroll data, if you employ staff: pay slips, OASI/occupational pension/accident insurance statements.
- If you hold stock or work in progress: an inventory list, or work in progress at year-end.
What makes accountants expensive is rarely the year-end work itself, but the cleanup beforehand: chasing missing receipts, separating private withdrawals from business expenses, matching payments, reconciling spreadsheets. Every hour spent on that costs you the full accountant rate.
The foundation: capture cleanly where the work happens
The biggest lever is not the accounting software, but what happens before it:
- Every invoice from the same system. If your quote and invoice come from the same tool, numbering, amounts, and VAT match automatically.
- Reconcile payments automatically instead of ticking them off by hand: with a QR reference, every payment lands against the right invoice, and your accounts receivable list is always accurate.
- Digitize receipts right away: photograph the receipt, attach it to the project, put the paper away. No shoebox in December.
- Keep private and business strictly separate, including your own business account. This alone halves your accountant’s follow-up questions.
In MeisterOffice bookkeeping runs as a by-product of your daily work: invoices, payments, and expenses are already recorded and categorized, and the accountant export hands over a clean, complete data set at year-end or per quarter. Your accountant spends their hours on year-end work and tax optimization instead of hunting for receipts. Pricing is here.
Frequently asked questions
Do I even need an accountant as a sole proprietor? It is not mandatory. But once VAT liability, staff, or the question of converting to an LLC comes up, a professional pays for themselves quickly. The middle path: you run the day-to-day figures yourself, the accountant reviews and handles the year-end accounts plus tax return.
What does an accountant cost for a small business? Depending on region and workload, the hourly rate is usually between CHF 100 and CHF 180. Year-end accounts for a small, cleanly prepared business are often available for a low four-figure amount; without preparation it quickly becomes a multiple of that.
Isn’t a spreadsheet enough? Maybe for the first few months. But a spreadsheet knows nothing about QR references, payment reconciliation, payment reminders, or receipt attachments. The errors that creep in there get paid for later at your accountant’s rate.