Accounting in Switzerland

Accounting standards

Swiss GAAP FER: Fachempfehlungen zur Rechnungslegung [Foundation for Accounting and Reporting Recommendations]
Supporting materials and updates.

Switzerland
Accounting standards updates and background information from Deloitte's IAS Plus service.

IFAC profile: Switzerland
Profile of the legal and regulatory environment, including information on the statutory framework for accounting and auditing, regulation of the profession and adoption of international standards.

Accountancy associations and groups

• EXPERTsuisse [Swiss Expert Association for Audit, Tax and Fiduciary]

For regional organisations and networks, see our list of international accountancy bodies

Comparisons

Similarities and differences: IFRS for SMEs – IFRS – SWISS GAAP FER
Comparison guide published by PwC in February 2011.

ICAEW contact members

Contact member in Switzerland
ICAEW’s network of Contact Members around the world are a point of contact for enquiries and act as ambassadors in promoting ICAEW's strategy and brand in each region.

Guides and resources

Overview of the profession in Switzerland
Accountancy Europe, July 2020
Survey of the structure and organisation of the accountancy profession across Europe. Each country profile compares the status of different professional titles and shows whether they are restricted titles, which are reserved activities and authorisations, and whether they are regulated or supervised. The profiles also list the necessary qualifications and requirements to work in this country, such as registration costs and insurance, and gives basic statistics on the number of qualified professionals and trainees in each country.

Financial reporting by listed companies: Spotlight on Swiss trends
Survey report published by Deloitte in October 2014 examining trends in IFRS reporting with sections on narrative reporting, goodwill and impairment, income taxes and pensions.

Glossary of microfinance terms
Translations from English to French of accounting and finance terms produced by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Published in January 2007.

IFRS adoption

Use of IFRS standards by jurisdiction: Switzerland
Country profile prepared by the IFRS Foundation with notes on the extent of IFRS application, relevant jurisdictional authority, IFRS endorsement and translation of standards.

Online articles

The Library provides access to leading business, finance and management journals. These journals are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use. 

Articles and books in the Library collection

Selected books

Each selected book features specific accounting information on this country or territory; click on the links for more details. Alternatively, contact us if you have a particular enquiry or need further help consulting these titles.

European Accounting Guide (5th ed.)
David Alexander and Simon Archer (eds.) (2003)
Individual country and region chapters cover background information, accounting policies and practices, discuss the form and content of published financial statements and offer sample accounts.

International Corporate Procedures
LexisLibrary
This regularly updated database includes information on tax and accounting and features model company accounts. The model accounts are presented in the standard format for each country or territory with original language and English language versions presented together. Contact us to request documents from the database.

World Accounting
Kurt S Schulzke (ed.)
Each country or region entry contains sections on the framework of accounting (including the regulatory and standard setting regimes), individual accounting topics, auditing and appendices which can include commonly used terms and acronyms and example financial statements. This is a regularly updated looseleaf reference work in three volumes.

Find more resources

• View a list of articles and books in our collection on accounting in Switzerland

To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to book loans. You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports through our document supply service.