The chart of accounts is the filing system of your books. If it is cleanly structured, it answers business questions almost by itself. If it grew instead of being planned, every report costs rework.
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The nine account classes
The Swiss SME chart of accounts orders all accounts into nine classes. The first digit already tells you what it is about:
| Class | Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Assets – current and fixed assets |
| 2 | Liabilities and equity – debt and equity capital |
| 3 | Operating income from goods and services |
| 4 | Expenses for materials, goods, services and energy |
| 5 | Personnel expenses |
| 6 | Other operating expenses, depreciation, financial result |
| 7 | Secondary operating result |
| 8 | Extraordinary and prior-period result, taxes |
| 9 | Closing |
Classes 1 and 2 form the balance sheet, classes 3 to 8 the income statement. That is the whole system – everything else is refinement within this order.
The accounts you really need day to day
A service business without inventory manages with surprisingly few accounts. These appear in almost every Swiss SME bookkeeping:
Balance sheet
- 1000 Cash and 1020 Bank – the liquid funds.
- 1100 Trade receivables – your receivables.
- 1170 Input tax on materials and services and 1171 Input tax on investments – separate, matching FTA items 400 and 405.
- 1300 Prepaid expenses – expenses paid in advance.
- 2000 Trade payables – your payables.
- 2200 VAT owed – the sales tax you owe.
- 2300 Accrued liabilities – expenses not yet paid.
- 2800 Equity or share or nominal capital, respectively.
Income statement
- 3000s – your revenue, sensibly separated by service area.
- 4000s – material and goods expenses, for service firms often only third-party services.
- 5000 Wage expense and 5700 Social insurance expense.
- 6000 Premises expense, 6200 Vehicle expense, 6500 Administration and IT expense, 6800 Depreciation.
Rule of thumb: an account is worth it if you really look at its balance at least once a year. Everything else should be consolidated.
Separate your revenue – this is where the benefit is decided
The most common mistake is a single revenue account. With it, at year end you see that you made revenue – but not with what. Separate revenue by what you want to steer:
- A trades business by labour and materials – only then does it see the margin on labour.
- A consulting firm by mandate work and flat fees.
- A hospitality business by kitchen, drinks and takeaway – the latter if only because of the different VAT rates.
Where the split should get finer without bloating the chart of accounts, cost centres are the better tool. They lay a second dimension over the same accounts: per branch, per vehicle, per project. The chart of accounts stays lean, yet the reporting becomes detailed.
What the law requires
The Code of Obligations prescribes no specific chart of accounts. It requires orderly bookkeeping and a minimum structure for balance sheet and income statement under Art. 959a and 959b CO. Using the SME chart of accounts satisfies this structure practically automatically – that is the real reason for its prevalence.
On the bookkeeping duty: sole proprietorships and partnerships with less than CHF 500,000 revenue in the last financial year only have to keep records of income, expenses and assets. Above that threshold, and for legal entities, double-entry bookkeeping applies. Records are kept for ten years (Art. 958f CO).
When switching software
A software switch is the best moment to tidy up the chart of accounts – but not mid-year. What makes sense:
- Switch at the year change so prior-year comparisons stay intact.
- Delete accounts with zero balance and no movement in the last two years.
- Before importing, check that the VAT codes are mapped to the right accounts – that saves time on every future return.
- Take over the opening balance and prior-year figures, not just the balances.
Accounty ships with the SME chart of accounts including VAT mapping and lets you adapt it. Chart of accounts, addresses, open items and journals can be imported from your current software – how that works in detail is in the comparison with Bexio.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to use a specific chart of accounts?
No, the Code of Obligations does not prescribe a specific chart of accounts. It does require orderly bookkeeping and a minimum structure for the balance sheet and income statement (Art. 959a and 959b CO). In practice the Swiss SME chart of accounts has become the standard – not least because banks, fiduciaries and tax offices know it.
From when do I have to keep double-entry books?
Sole proprietorships and partnerships with less than CHF 500,000 in revenue in the last financial year only have to keep records of income, expenses and assets. Above that threshold, and for legal entities, double-entry bookkeeping with balance sheet and income statement is mandatory.
How many accounts does a small business need?
Usually between 40 and 60. More accounts do not mean more insight, just more classification questions in daily work. It is smarter to run a few clearly delimited accounts and use cost centres for the detail.
What belongs in which VAT account?
Input tax is usually kept separately: one account for input tax on materials and services, a second for investments and other operating expenses. That matches items 400 and 405 of the FTA return and saves you splitting by hand at period end.
How long do I have to keep my books?
Ten years from the end of the financial year, for the books, vouchers, annual report and audit report (Art. 958f CO). For records relating to immovable property, longer periods apply for VAT purposes.
Read next: VAT return step by step · Net tax rate or effective method? · Accounty for fiduciaries
This article reflects the position as of August 2026 and is for general guidance. The publications of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration and the applicable laws are authoritative. It does not replace individual advice.
Related reading
Year-end closing for Swiss SMEs: 12-step checklist
From reconciling accounts and accruals through to the tax return.
Read article →Swiss VAT return: step-by-step guide
From accruals to filing in the FTA portal.
Read article →Swiss accounting software: 2026 comparison
Ten providers compared head to head – pricing, modules, payroll and VAT.
Read article →All articles on the blog → · Software comparisons → · Accounting by industry →
Start with a ready-made SME chart of accounts
Accounty ships with the Swiss SME chart of accounts, including VAT mapping and cost centres. You can adapt it any time.
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