Ordinance on the Keeping and Retention of Accounting Records (GeBüV, SR 221.431) and Code of Obligations, Art. 957–958f (duty to keep and retain accounts).

When does GeBüV / CO accounting apply to you?

GeBüV / CO accounting may apply to you if one of these triggers applies. The Regulatory Check tests them against your details.

• Markets: Switzerland (applies if additionally: Markets: Switzerland) (Applies): If you keep your business books in Switzerland, you are subject - provided you are obliged to keep accounts under Art. 957 CO - to the retention obligations under the CO and the GeBüV.

Exceptions

• Sole proprietorships and partnerships with revenue of less than CHF 500,000 in the last financial year only need to keep simplified accounts of income, expenses and assets ('milk-book accounting') under Art. 957(2) CO; the full accounting rules apply by analogy. This revenue threshold cannot be directly mapped with the regulatory check's 'groesse' input field (number of employees).
• Associations and foundations not required to be entered in the commercial register, as well as foundations exempted from the audit requirement under Art. 83b(2) CC, are likewise subject only to the simplified accounting obligation under Art. 957(2) CO.

What does GeBüV / CO accounting require?

• Keep accounts in accordance with the principles of proper accounting: complete, accurate and systematic recording of business transactions, documentary evidence for every entry, clarity, appropriateness and verifiability (Art. 957a CO).
• Retain business books, accounting records, the annual report and the auditor's report for ten years; the period begins at the end of the financial year (Art. 958f(1) CO).
• The annual report and the auditor's report must be retained in writing and signed (Art. 958f(2) CO).
• Business books and accounting records may be retained on paper, electronically or in a comparable manner, provided that conformity with the underlying business transactions and facts is guaranteed and the records can be made legible again at any time (Art. 958f(3) CO).
• Any written record on paper, electronically or in a comparable form that is needed to trace the underlying business transaction counts as an accounting record (Art. 957a(3) CO).

What evidence is needed?

• Complete documentary records with traceability of every entry.
• Demonstrable retention over the full ten-year period from the end of the relevant financial year.
• For electronic retention: evidence of conformity with the original transactions and the ability to make records legible at any time - the specific technical requirements (traceability, integrity, availability) are set out in the GeBüV; the GeBüV ordinance text itself could not be technically retrieved in full text in this research, so the principles are evidenced only via a secondary source (a Wikipedia summary) and noted under 'unsicher'.

What are the consequences of violations?

A breach of the duty to keep accounts or retain records can carry criminal consequences (e.g. in case of bankruptcy); the exact wording of the relevant penal provision was not examined in full text in this research and is therefore not cited with an article number. Under civil law, deficient accounting can also considerably worsen a company's evidentiary position (e.g. in disputes or a tax audit).

What is connected with it?

• Principles for the Proper Management and Storage of Books, Records and Documents in Electronic Form and for Data Access (GoBD): The GoBD is an administrative circular of the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) that sets out in detail how books, records and electronic documents are to be kept properly, recorded immutably and retained under the Fiscal Code (Sections 146 f.
• Federal Act on Data Protection (Data Protection Act, FADP): The revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP, SR 235.1) has, since 1 September 2023, governed the processing of personal data of natural persons by private companies and federal bodies in Switzerland.

What is still uncertain?

• The ordinance text of the Ordinance on the Keeping and Retention of Accounting Records itself (SR 221.431) could not be technically retrieved in full text from fedlex.admin.ch in this research (the page requires JavaScript; several direct document download paths were checked without success). All statements on the GeBüV's content come from a Wikipedia summary (SR number 221.431, enactment date 24 April 2002, entry into force 1 June 2002, last major amendment 1 January 2013) and are marked as secondary accordingly.
• Specific GeBüV article numbers on the traceability, integrity and availability of electronic retention were NOT verified in the ordinance's text and are therefore deliberately not cited with an article number.
• The revenue threshold of CHF 500,000 (Art. 957(2) CO) cannot be mapped in the regulatory check's vocabulary, since the 'groesse' field captures the number of employees, not revenue - a trigger based on the revenue threshold was therefore deliberately not formulated.
• The exact criminal sanction provision for breach of the accounting duty was not examined in full text and is therefore described without an article number.

Sources

Information as of: 24 September 2026.

• Bundesgesetz betreffend die Ergänzung des Schweizerischen Zivilgesetzbuches (Fünfter Teil: Obligationenrecht), SR 220 – konsolidierte Fassung, Art. 957, 957a, 958f, Bundeskanzlei / Fedlex, Systematische Rechtssammlung des Bundes, retrieved on 24 September 2026
• Geschäftsbücherverordnung (GeBüV) – Übersichtsartikel (SR-Nummer, Erlassdatum, Struktur der Verordnung), Wikipedia (Sekundärquelle, nicht die Verordnung selbst), retrieved on 24 September 2026

A professional assessment based on publicly available sources, not legal advice. Whether a given rule applies in your specific case depends on circumstances that are not fully captured here.