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Accounting document management checklist in Borex: what every SME should know

Between VAT, social contributions and the year-end close, a Swiss SME juggles dozens of deadlines a year. This page focuses on accounting document management in Borex: what the law requires, what can be automated, and when to delegate.

Digitalising accounting document management: what actually works

Accounting digitalisation always follows the same path: capture documents at the source (photo or PDF upload), let automatic recognition extract supplier, amount, date and VAT, approve the proposed entries, then archive each document linked to its entry. Every step removes a re-keying — and therefore an error source.

For accounting document management, migrating history must not block the start: begin on day one of the current financial year and import the history later if needed.

The Swiss legal frame for accounting document management

For an owner in Borex, the question is never “do we need accounts?” but “at what level of detail?”. The CO sets the floor; the bank, the tax office and the shareholders set the rest.

Also worth knowing: accounts may be drawn up in the currency most relevant to the business; if that is not the franc, values must additionally be stated in CHF (art. 958d para. 3 CO). Internationally active companies gain books that match their economic reality.

A well-structured SME chart of accounts

Nearly all Swiss SMEs rely on the standard SME chart of accounts (Sterchi/Käfer): classes 1 (assets) to 9 (closing), with revenue in class 3 and expenses in classes 4 to 6. Using this standard structure makes conversations with your fiduciary, auditor and tax administration far easier.

For a business in Borex, comparability over time beats sophistication: a chart stable for five years beats a “perfect” one rebuilt every year. Banks and the tax administration read year-on-year movements first.

Advisor handing a document and pen to a client

Outsource accounting document management or keep it in-house?

Outsourcing does not exempt you from understanding: an owner who can read the balance sheet and the income statement challenges the fiduciary better — and pays for advice, not re-keying.

Changing fiduciary is not a drama: the accounting data belongs to the company, and a clean export (entries, chart of accounts, linked documents) allows a transition at year-end. A provider who locks in a client's data says a lot about how it works.

Borex: what changes, what does not

Borex (postal code 1277, canton Vaud) applies the same federal rules as the rest of the country: what changes in Borex are the cantonal counterparts — tax administration, compensation office, commercial register.

Federal deadlines do not move in Borex: VAT within 60 days, salary declaration in January, 10-year record retention — postal code 1277 changes nothing about those rules, only the sender's address.

Frequently asked questions

How long must records related to accounting document management be kept?

Ten years from the end of the financial year concerned (art. 958f CO). Electronic retention is permitted if the integrity and readability of the records are guaranteed — a serious digital archive validly replaces paper binders. A business in Borex can therefore archive fully digitally.

Which social contributions does a Swiss employer pay?

AHV/IV/APG: 5.3% employer share (the same is withheld from the employee); unemployment insurance: 1.1% each up to CHF 148,200 a year; occupational pension (LPP) by age and plan (employer at least 50%); occupational accident insurance paid by the employer; family allowances by canton. For an employer in Borex, family allowances follow the canton's rates.

Do you need a fiduciary for accounting document management, or can you do it yourself?

Both are defensible. Below CHF 500,000 of revenue, a sole proprietorship may keep simplified accounts itself. As soon as payroll, VAT and a closing with tax stakes are involved, professional support prevents mistakes that cost more than the fees. With a shared platform, the fiduciary does not even need to be in Borex.

Does MyFiducia.ai work for a business based in Borex?

Yes: the platform runs online, the rules applied are federal (VAT, CO, AHV), and the file can be shared with any fiduciary. A business in Borex manages its documents, VAT and exports exactly as anywhere in Switzerland.

Also worth reading

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Switch to accounting that keeps itself up to date

MyFiducia.ai automates accounting document management for businesses in Borex: AI-read documents, posting suggestions, VAT and exports ready for your fiduciary. Try the platform or browse our other guides.

The application is operated in French.