Accounting for businesses that keep their own books
Most small Swiss businesses keep their own numbers and hand them to their fiduciary once a year. Bilanzi is Swiss accounting software built for exactly that, and the Free plan costs nothing.
Where it usually gets stuck
Rarely at the bookkeeping itself. Usually the numbers sit in four places. The receipts are in a box or in your phone’s photos. The invoices live in a spreadsheet. The statement is at the bank, and the real accounts are with the fiduciary you see three times a year.
What gets lost is the overview. In October you want to know how the year is going, and the answer you get is from June. Good accounting software for small businesses fixes that: everything is in one place, and you can see where you stand at any time.
What Bilanzi does for your business
You take a photo of a receipt with your phone, and it stays linked to its entry. You import the bank statement as a file, and Bilanzi matches it against open items. Your invoices carry the Swiss QR payment part and become an open receivable in the ledger as soon as you issue them.
Everything ends up in the same ledger. The balance sheet and income statement are ready at any time, and behind every line you see the accounts it comes from. All of this is part of the bookkeeping core. The Free plan includes all of it except the VAT return, which comes with Starter:
- Chart of accounts based on the Swiss SME chart, with templates by industry
- Journal, entries, reversals and period locks
- Receipts photographed, filed and linked to their entry
- Customer invoices with QR payment part, credit notes and reminders
- Supplier invoices with approval and payment orders
- Bank statement import and reconciliation
- VAT by the effective method or at a net tax rate
- Balance sheet and income statement under CO 959a and 959b
- Year-end closing with a checklist and the opening of the next year
- Fixed assets with depreciation, expenses, cost centres and retention
A month with Bilanzi, step by step
First you set up your company. The setup assistant asks one thing at a time: financial year, chart of accounts, invoice address, bank account, VAT and opening capital. Each question has its own screen, and you can change everything later.
During the month you photograph receipts and bills as they come in. Bilanzi checks whether the payment is already in your bank account. If it is, Bilanzi suggests attaching the receipt there. That way an expense never lands in the books twice.
At the end of the month you download the statement from your e-banking and import it. You match customer payments to open invoices. You approve supplier invoices and pay them with a file for your e-banking. Whatever is still open shows up in a list.
From the Starter plan, Bilanzi works out the VAT after each quarter from the posted lines. At year end the closing takes you through a checklist, freezes the annual accounts and opens the new year.
What it costs
The Free plan costs nothing, and it stays that way. It covers one company, two people, room for many years of receipts and the bookkeeping core listed above, without the VAT return. There is no limit on the number of entries or invoices. You sign up with Google, with Apple or with your email address, and you need no payment method.
The paid plans have published prices. Starter costs CHF 29 a month and adds the VAT return, the AI, payroll and five people. Business costs CHF 59 a month for three companies and 15 people. Fiduciary costs CHF 199 a month and is meant for fiduciary firms with up to 25 mandates and 100 people. You take out a paid plan under Settings › Subscription and pay by card, TWINT, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Free does not expire. You pick a paid plan only when you need one, and everything you’ve booked stays. On the paid plans the AI reads a set number of receipts each month. It runs in Switzerland, at Infomaniak in Geneva.
What is not up for negotiation
A posted line is never overwritten. You correct it with a reversal that stays visibly linked to the original. Every action is recorded in the audit trail. The entries are chained together, so a change made after the fact can be proven.
Your data is yours. You can export your books at any time, per financial year, as CSV files with journal, accounts and subledgers. Every file carries a checksum, and you can check completeness without Bilanzi.
What does not work yet
Payroll only calculates with a contribution rate once an owner of the organisation has checked that rate against the official source and released it. There is no Swissdec certification.
You file the VAT return yourself in the ESTV ePortal or hand it to your fiduciary. Bilanzi sends nothing to the tax administration. There is no direct connection to your bank either. Statements come in as files, and payment orders go out as files.
You send quotes and reminders yourself. Bilanzi does not email them. There is no import of entries from other software.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Free plan really free?
Yes, for good. You enter no payment method. You are on the Free plan from day one, and it doesn’t run out. It covers one company, two people and the bookkeeping without the VAT return. If you need more, a paid plan may fit. Nothing changes on its own.
Do I still need a fiduciary?
That is up to you. Many businesses do the day-to-day bookkeeping themselves and hand over the year-end. With a mandate, your fiduciary works directly on your books instead of a copy. You decide whether payroll is included, and you can end the mandate at any time.
Can I run several companies?
Yes. Each company has its own books, kept apart, and you switch between them in the app. The Free plan covers one company, the Business plan three.
Does Bilanzi work on a phone?
Yes. Bilanzi runs in the browser, on your phone as well as on your computer. You can add it to your home screen, and it then opens like an app. You photograph receipts straight from the camera.
Which languages does Bilanzi speak?
English, German, French and Italian. Each person picks their own language. You write invoices in your customer’s language.
What it costs
This is part of the Free plan, so it costs nothing, and of every other plan too.
Related topics
Invoices with a QR payment part
You create the QR-bill straight from your books. It becomes an open receivable the moment you issue it, and bank reconciliation later ties the payment back to it.
Bank reconciliation
You import the bank statement as a file. Bilanzi suggests a match for every transaction and tells you why. The decision is yours.
Get started today. For free.
Your own numbers will tell you fastest whether Bilanzi suits your business. Create an account and start with the Free plan. It costs nothing, now or later.
Free forever. No credit card.