Fiduciary software Switzerland: what it must be able to do
As at: · fastview ag, Suhr
Professionally responsible: Marco Zanetti and Reto Ackermann, fiduciaries and auditors, fastview ag
Fiduciary software for Switzerland must reliably handle the year-end closing under the CO, know the company law surrounding the closing and protect the clients’ data. This page names ten criteria for the selection, independent of the provider, and shows for each point what nunia does about it. At the end there are questions you can put to every provider.
In brief
- Fiduciary software, accounting software and closing software are not the same thing. nunia is not a bookkeeping system; it takes over the closing from the trial balance.
- At the core are the financial statements under Art. 957 ff. CO, a traceable closing process and the resolutions that follow: GM minutes, share register, dividend.
- Added to this are deadlines across all engagements, collaboration with the client and the auditor, and an operation that satisfies Swiss data protection law.
Fiduciary software, accounting or year-end closing software?
The term fiduciary software is used for three different things: for financial accounting, in which entries are posted continuously, for industry solutions with time recording and invoicing, and for software that handles the year-end closing and the work that follows. nunia belongs to the third group: the client’s accounts stay in the existing program, nunia takes over the closing from the trial balance and carries it through to financial statements, minutes and advice. Anyone looking for year-end closing software therefore checks above all the import of the trial balance, the structure under the CO and traceability, not the posting screen.
Checklist: ten criteria for the selection
| Criterion | Question to the software |
|---|---|
| 1. Import of the trial balance | Does it read the trial balance from the common accounting systems as Excel, CSV or PDF, and can I check the account mapping? |
| 2. Financial statements under the CO | Does it structure the balance sheet, income statement and notes under Art. 959a–959c CO, with the prior year? |
| 3. Traceable closing | Is there a closing file per engagement and year with supporting documents, review and approval? |
| 4. Company law after the closing | Does it generate GM minutes, appropriation of profit and dividend, and does it keep the share register? |
| 5. Capital protection and audit requirement | Does it point out loss of capital, over-indebtedness and the size criteria of the audit requirement? |
| 6. Analysis and valuation | Does it provide key figures, business valuation and the tax value under Circular No. 28 from the same figures? |
| 7. Engagements, tasks and deadlines | Can I see all engagements, tasks and statutory deadlines in one place, including in my own calendar? |
| 8. Collaboration with the client and the auditor | Can I request documents and show the auditor the closing in read-only mode, without e-mail attachments? |
| 9. Hosting, data protection and AI | Where is the data stored, how are the firms separated, and where does the AI run? |
| 10. Legal forms and financial years | Does it know AG, GmbH, cooperative, association, foundation and sole proprietorship, and non-calendar financial years? |
The criteria in detail
1. Import of the trial balance
The closing starts with the figures from the client’s accounts. nunia: trial balance from Excel, CSV or PDF; nunia recognises common exports, including from Abacus, Sage, bexio, Banana, BusPro, Business Central and SAP Business One. nunia presents the columns for confirmation and maps the accounts to the Swiss SME chart of accounts; you check and change the proposal. For PDF, nunia first reads the text layer, AI only for scans. bexio is connected directly (retrieval of trial balance and account statements per financial year); further direct interfaces, including Abacus, Topal and Infoniqa, are in preparation. More under Migration: taking over the trial balance and Switching from Aumico to nunia.
2. Financial statements under the CO
Balance sheet, income statement and notes must follow the minimum structure of the CO and show the prior year. nunia: structure under Art. 959a and 959b CO, notes under Art. 959c CO, prior year from its own file, plus cash flow statement, fixed asset movement schedule and statement of changes in equity. Presentation under the CO or Swiss GAAP FER, as PDF in German, French, Italian, English and Romansh in your own corporate design. See Financial statements under the CO from the trial balance.
3. Traceable closing
Who checked what, and is the closing approved? nunia: a digital closing file per engagement and year with audit areas, supporting documents, checklists and leadsheets, optionally with four-eyes principle and approval. The status overview shows the status of the whole chain. The file can be exported as ZIP with supporting documents.
4. Company law after the closing
After the financial statements come the general meeting, appropriation of profit and registers. nunia: GM minutes with standard agenda items per legal form, appropriation of profit with minimum allocation under Art. 672 CO, dividend with withholding tax and certificates, share register, register of capital contributions and register of cooperative members with change journal, as well as the transparency register with reporting sheet and deadlines. See Preparing GM minutes, Share register and register of capital contributions and Transparency register.
5. Capital protection and audit requirement
The financial statements provide the figures for capital protection and the audit requirement. nunia: the capital analysis checks for loss of capital and over-indebtedness under Art. 725 ff. CO and the return of contributions under Art. 680 CO; for the opting out, nunia checks the size criteria under Art. 727 CO. See Loss of capital and over-indebtedness and Opting out and the audit requirement.
6. Analysis and valuation
Advice needs analyses from the same figures. nunia: business analysis with key figures and target ranges, variance analysis, hidden reserves, business valuation (DCF, capitalised earnings value, net asset value) and the share valuation under Circular No. 28 with the rules of the 26 cantons. See Share valuation under Circular No. 28.
7. Engagements, tasks and deadlines
In everyday fiduciary work, the overview of all engagements counts. nunia: “My workspace” with a board across all engagements, tasks with responsibility, priority and reminders, deadline calendar with personal view and calendar subscription for Outlook, Google or Apple. On the go you see engagements, tasks and deadlines on your smartphone. See Tutorial video 01: Welcome to nunia – your workspace.
8. Collaboration with the client and the auditor
Documents should not go back and forth as e-mail attachments. nunia: document requests to the client with upload link and reminders, dispatch of the closing for signing and read-only access for the auditor to the closing with financial statements and supporting documents. See Tutorial video 06: Data exchange.
9. Hosting, data protection and AI
Fiduciary data is among the most confidential data of a company. nunia: the data is hosted in Switzerland; each fiduciary firm gets its own physically separate database. Sign-in uses a second factor, and the data is backed up automatically. AI functions run exclusively via data centres in the EU (AWS Bedrock, Zurich endpoint), not in the USA; identifying details are pseudonymised in text-based AI functions, the AI can be switched off per firm, and its results are proposals that a person checks. nunia is designed for the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection.
10. Legal forms and financial years
Clients have different legal forms and do not always have the calendar year as their financial year. nunia: AG, GmbH, cooperative, association, foundation and sole proprietorship; terms, registers and minutes depend on the legal form. Non-calendar as well as long and short financial years are queried and supported.
Questions for every provider
- From which accounting systems do I read in the trial balance, and what happens to accounts that cannot be mapped?
- Where does the prior year come from: from its own file or from a second import, and how are differences shown?
- Can I present the financial statements under the CO and under Swiss GAAP FER, and in which languages?
- How do I document who prepared, reviewed and approved the closing?
- Which documents after the closing does the software generate: GM minutes, dividend certificate, reporting sheet for the transparency register?
- Where is the data hosted, and do several customers share one database?
- In which country does the AI run, which data goes there, and can it be switched off?
- How do I get my data if I change software?
- How is it billed: per user, per engagement or as a flat rate, and what is included?
What the software does not take over
Even good fiduciary software does not replace professional judgement. In nunia, valuation, accruals and closing entries, the proposals to the general meeting, the decision on an opting out and advising the client remain with you. nunia calculates, reconciles, points out deadlines and differences and records who decided.
Read on and watch
Frequently asked questions
What is fiduciary software?
Software with which a fiduciary firm does the work for its clients. Depending on the provider, this means financial accounting, industry solutions with time recording, or software for the year-end closing and company law. nunia belongs to the last group.
Is nunia an accounting software?
No. nunia is not a bookkeeping system. The client’s accounts stay in the existing program; nunia takes over the closing from the trial balance and prepares the financial statements, closing file, GM minutes and further documents from it.
Do I need an interface to the accounting system?
No. bexio is connected directly (connection via sign-in with bexio, retrieval of trial balance and account statements per financial year). From Abacus, Banana, Sage and all other programs, nunia reads the trial balance from an exported file as Excel, CSV or PDF; further direct interfaces, including Abacus, Topal and Infoniqa, are in preparation. You continue to keep the accounts in the existing program.
Where is the data stored, and where does the AI run?
The data is stored in Switzerland, in a separate database per fiduciary firm. AI functions run exclusively via data centres in the EU (AWS Bedrock, Zurich endpoint) and can be switched off per firm.
Which fiduciary firms is nunia suitable for?
For Swiss fiduciary firms of every size, including sole practitioners. Billing is per engagement and year, only for the functions used.
How do I test nunia?
With the system tour: it opens a test environment with sample clients, no registration and no installation required.
Try nunia
The system tour shows nunia with sample clients and sample figures, no registration required. For questions about your firm, book an online demo.