The guide
A guide to the statutory audit for SMEs
Limited or full audit, documents to prepare, record retention, the role of the auditor: this guide explains what Swiss law requires and how to prepare an audit without tying up the whole team for weeks.
SME audit in Switzerland: limited or full audit?
Under CO art. 727, a company needs a full audit when, in two consecutive financial years, it exceeds two of these three thresholds: a balance sheet total of CHF 20 million, revenue of CHF 40 million, an annual average of 250 full-time positions. Listed companies and those required to prepare consolidated accounts are also subject to it.
Other companies undergo a limited audit, which is lighter and based on inquiries, analytical procedures and appropriate detailed testing. With the consent of all shareholders, a company with no more than ten full-time positions can waive it, which is known as opting out. In every case, the books must remain properly kept and provable.
Audit preparation: which documents does the auditor need?
The auditor expects the annual accounts, balance sheet, income statement and notes, the trial balance and general ledger, bank reconciliations at the closing date, the inventory and its valuation, the fixed asset and depreciation schedule, justified provisions and accruals, the VAT returns and their consistency with revenue, and the AHV and LPP salary declarations.
The costly part is not producing these documents, but finding the evidence behind them. In Numezis each entry is linked to its document, each check leaves a trace and the auditor receives read-only access to the year. The auditor reviews directly instead of waiting for binders and exports.
Year-end close: the steps of a clean closing
A clean close follows an order: reconcile the bank accounts and clear suspense accounts; check VAT consistency; post accruals and deferrals; book depreciation and provisions; revalue foreign currency positions; count and value the inventory; finally produce the accounts and notes under CO art. 959 to 959c, and lock the period.
Numezis turns this sequence into a guided close, with pre-checks that block closing while a reconciliation is missing. The agent prepares recurring entries such as depreciation and accruals, and each one waits for approval. The result is a locked, consistent and documented year, ready to hand over to the external auditor.
How long must accounting records be kept in Switzerland?
CO art. 958f requires books, accounting documents, the management report and the audit report to be kept for ten years from the end of the financial year. VAT Act art. 70 sets the same period for VAT-relevant documents, and twenty years for certain documents relating to real estate. Electronic storage is allowed provided it meets the Accounting Records Ordinance: integrity, authenticity and access at any time.
Numezis keeps documents for ten years in Switzerland and refuses any deletion before that date, even by an administrator, which is what fail-closed means. The hash-chained ledger also lets you show that no entry has been altered since it was recorded.
How to give your auditor safe access
Sending exports by e-mail or sharing an administrator password creates two problems: data circulates without control, and the auditor only sees a snapshot. Dedicated access solves both.
In Numezis the auditor role gives read-only access to the year concerned: entries, documents, check results, history and reports. The company grants and withdraws access, and every visit is traced. The auditor can ask questions directly on an entry, the team answers in the same place, and the agent can draft answers by finding the documents. The audit becomes a structured exchange instead of a back-and-forth of files, and the auditor’s independence is preserved, since nothing can be changed from that role.