ComparisonBookkeeping in Excel or with Bilanzi
For many, it starts with an Excel template. Bilanzi Free costs nothing either, and it works out the journal, balance sheet and income statement on its own.
- Free costs nothing
- No formulas to maintain
- Bring your Excel rows
What an Excel template asks of you
In a template you keep the journal by hand. Every entry needs a debit and a credit account, and you maintain the formulas for the balance sheet and income statement yourself.
Invoices, bank statements and receipts sit outside the sheet. You copy amounts across and note which invoice has been paid.
What Bilanzi Free does on its own
Free costs nothing and never expires. You book along the Swiss SME chart of accounts, and the balance sheet and income statement are always ready.
You write invoices with a QR payment part from your contacts. You import bank statements, and Bilanzi suggests the matching invoice for every payment.
What applies to both
The law does not prescribe any program. Your books must be complete, truthful and verifiable, and you keep them for ten years.
Bilanzi creates every entry as a draft first. It is only booked after you check it, it is corrected with a reversing entry, and nothing is ever overwritten.
What Bilanzi does for you
These features are ready in Free. The VAT return comes with Starter.
Post, review and correct
Every entry starts as a draft, which you review and then post for good. You correct it with a reversing entry. Nothing is ever overwritten.
In Free
Chart of accounts and financial years
Bilanzi suggests a chart of accounts based on the Swiss SME chart, suited to your industry. You lock a year once it is done.
In Free
Balance sheet and income statement
Both are ready at any time, structured according to the Swiss Code of Obligations. Behind every line you see the accounts, and behind every account the entries.
In Free
Invoices with a QR payment part
Write the invoice in francs or euros and email it straight from Bilanzi, with the receipts for your expenses if you like. Your customers’ replies land in Bilanzi. You see when the invoice has been paid.
In Free
Import statements
Bilanzi reads CAMT files and the CSV exports of many Swiss banks, such as PostFinance, UBS and Raiffeisen. For any other CSV file, you map the columns yourself once.
In Free
Match payments
For every payment, Bilanzi suggests the matching invoice or receipt and gives the reason. When you post a payment straight to an account, Bilanzi remembers it for the next one.
In Free
Photograph and upload receipts
Take a photo of the receipt with your phone or upload a PDF. Bilanzi keeps every original and never deletes one.
In Free
VAT return
Bilanzi works out the return from your entries, with the effective method or the net tax rate, per quarter or half-year. Every figure leads back to the entries behind it. With either method, you download a file that the FTA’s ePortal reads in.
From Starter
From Excel to Bilanzi
You move your sheet without retyping it, in Free too.
- In Excel, select your chart of accounts with balances and its header row, then copy it.
- In Bilanzi, open Settings › Moving in, choose “Other program” and paste the rows.
- Bilanzi shows you what it recognised. You check it and take it over. Contacts and open invoices work the same way.
Questions about the comparison
Is Excel enough for bookkeeping in Switzerland?
The law does not prescribe any program. Your books must be complete, truthful and verifiable, and kept for ten years. Bilanzi records every entry and keeps books and receipts for that long.
Does Bilanzi Free really cost nothing?
Yes. Free costs nothing, never expires and needs no credit card. The VAT return comes with Starter.
Can I bring my Excel sheet?
Yes. Copy the chart of accounts with balances and its header row and paste it under Settings › Moving in. Contacts and open invoices work the same way.
Can I keep analysing my figures in Excel?
Yes. You download a whole financial year as CSV files, and Excel opens them directly.
More comparisons
From the template to Bilanzi Free
Free costs nothing and never expires. You bring your Excel sheet along.
Free forever. No credit card.