What does it cost to outsource your accounting?
Between CHF 158.– and CHF 3’925.– a month, depending on how much comes up in your business. Find your row here — and the six questions to ask before you sign.
Your price hangs on three numbers
Documents per month, salary recipients, VAT method. Give those three and any fiduciary can quote you a price — and you can compare offers. Everything else is detail.
The best way to estimate document volume is a real month: how many supplier invoices, receipts and debits had to be posted? For salaries every head counts, part-time included. And the method is on your last VAT return.
158–350
Small business, francs per month
Sole proprietorship, 15 documents, no salaries, not VAT registered.
2’692–3’925
Larger business, francs per month
Corporation with 400 documents and twenty-five salary recipients.
2.2×
Spread among small businesses
That is how far the dearest offer sits above the cheapest. This is where comparing pays off most.
1.5×
Spread among large ones
At the top the providers converge — there the volume drives the price.
Which business is closest to yours?
Find yourself among these five. Every provider quoted a price for exactly these businesses — which is why the figures below are comparable and not merely placed side by side.
1
Side business
- Legal form
- sole proprietorship
- Annual turnover
- CHF 60’000
- Documents per month
- 15
- Payslips
- 0
- VAT method
- none
2
Self-employed
- Legal form
- sole proprietorship
- Annual turnover
- CHF 180’000
- Documents per month
- 40
- Payslips
- 0
- VAT method
- net tax rate
3
One-person GmbH
- Legal form
- GmbH
- Annual turnover
- CHF 250’000
- Documents per month
- 50
- Payslips
- 1
- VAT method
- effective
4
GmbH with a team
- Legal form
- GmbH
- Annual turnover
- CHF 1’500’000
- Documents per month
- 150
- Payslips
- 8
- VAT method
- effective
5
Established AG
- Legal form
- AG
- Annual turnover
- CHF 6’000’000
- Documents per month
- 400
- Payslips
- 25
- VAT method
- effective
The prices
Monthly prices in francs, excluding VAT, at every provider including the annual statements and the tax return. Each value comes from the provider’s calculator or price list. Find your row — if you fall between two, your price falls between them.
| Sample business | SEBONA Treuhand | Findea.ch | Leuchtenstadt Treuhand | Paradies Treuhand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side business15 documents/mo. · 0 payslips | CHF 158 | CHF 221 | CHF 340 | CHF 350 |
| Self-employed40 documents/mo. · 0 payslips | CHF 291 | CHF 412 | CHF 590 | CHF 350 |
| One-person GmbH50 documents/mo. · 1 payslip | CHF 409 | CHF 564 | CHF 650 | CHF 600 |
| GmbH with a team150 documents/mo. · 8 payslips | CHF 1’066 | CHF 1’287 | CHF 1’550 | CHF 1’250 |
| Established AG400 documents/mo. · 25 payslips | CHF 2’692 | CHF 2’925 | CHF 3’925 | not researched |
What the table means for your decision
The cheapest provider is not the same in every row. You will not find a recommendation here, because there is none.
Among small businesses the offers sit 2.2 times apart, among large ones only 1.5 times. If you are small, get more than one offer: that is where the money is.
And plan for growth. From the smallest to the largest sample business the volume is 27 times as high, the price only 12 to 17 times. Whoever grows pays less per document.
What every one of these prices includes
The annual statements and the tax return are in there. That is the most important sentence on this page.
Many offers quote a low monthly price and invoice the year-end close separately in spring. Such an offer is not cheaper, it is incomplete. Check that before you put two prices side by side.
- VAT returnQuarterly or half-yearly filing with the Federal Tax Administration, using the method of the sample business concerned.
- Payroll accountingMonthly payslips including social insurance filings, for the stated number of salary recipients.
- Annual financial statementsBalance sheet and income statement at the financial year end — the item most often missing from an offer.
- Tax returnThe company tax return, not the owner’s private one.
An offer without the annual statements is not cheaper. It is incomplete.
Six questions before you sign
Ordered by effect. The first moves your price by a multiple, the last by a few francs.
What do you count as a document?
Documents or payment transactions? With cash takings or lump payments these are two very different numbers. Have a real month from your books worked through before you agree to a volume.
Are the annual statements included?
The largest single piece of work in the year. Without them the monthly price is not lower but incomplete — and the invoice comes anyway.
Which tax return is meant?
The company one. Your private return is a separate service and is included in no price on this page.
What does each salary recipient cost?
Almost everywhere a separate item per head per month. With eight employees it weighs more than the base fee.
Which VAT method is priced in?
The net tax rate is cheaper than the effective method. An offer priced on the net rate while you file effectively is too low.
What do setup and exit cost?
Taking over the books in the first year is a one-off and rarely published. Ask about the notice period in the same breath: none of the 4 providers states it publicly.
Is it worth it against doing it yourself?
Count three items, not one. First the software subscription, a median of CHF 25.– a month. Second your own time, at the rate you charge a client. Third the annual statements and tax return, which sit in no accounting program.
Anyone counting only the first item always arrives at the same answer — and is surprised in spring.
All 4 providers with their prices for every sample business, plus scope of work, software used and place of business.
All 4 providers in the comparison table: Outsourced accounting