2025 year-end accounts: checks to make before closing your books

Closing the accounts is not simply a matter of locking a financial year in the software. First, check that the 2025 accounts are complete, allocated to the correct period, documented and consistent with the company’s economic reality.

For an SA or Sàrl, annual accounts serve management, shareholders or members, auditors, tax authorities and often banks. A period error, an overlooked uncollectible receivable or a mishandled shareholder current account can therefore have effects well beyond a single accounting entry.

Here are the essential checks before finalizing the accounts as at December 31, 2025.

Why year-end closing also involves management responsibility

Swiss accounting law requires accounts to present the company’s economic position so that a third party can form a reliable opinion. SA and Sàrl companies must prepare annual accounts comprising at least a balance sheet, income statement and statutory notes.

Preparation may be outsourced to an accounting firm, but corporate bodies’ responsibilities do not disappear. An SA’s board retains, in particular, ultimate supervision and responsibility for organizing accounting and financial control. Comparable duties apply to Sàrl managers.

For a financial year ending December 31, 2025, an SA’s ordinary general meeting must generally be held within six months of year-end. This does not make it reasonable to wait until June to look for missing invoices: the more time passes, the more creative explanations become and the less evidential weight they carry.

1. Check completeness and the correct period

Income and expense cut-off

The first question is not “when was the invoice received?” but “which financial year does the service belong to?” Income and expenses must be allocated to the period they concern.

• A service performed in December 2025 but invoiced in January 2026 should generally be included in 2025 income.
• A supplier invoice received in January 2026 for a service provided in December must be recorded as a 2025 expense.
• Insurance paid in December 2025 for the whole of 2026 is a prepaid expense and must not reduce the 2025 result in full.

Review invoices issued and received around year-end, subscriptions, rent, fees, work in progress, bonuses, commissions and multi-year contracts. Accruals and deferrals must be calculated on a verifiable basis, not using a round amount because it “looks about right.”

Missing documents and unusual entries

Identify entries without supporting documents, duplicates, suspense accounts and significant or unusual movements. Well-maintained software provides traceability for what was entered; it cannot guess what was never supplied.

2. Reconcile accounts with external sources

Differences must be explained and documented. An unresolved difference does not become correct because it is small; it merely becomes a small error. Materiality helps prioritize work but does not replace analysis of the cause.

3. Reassess assets: receivables, inventory and fixed assets

Trade receivables

Analyze invoice age, reminders, debt collection, disputes and payments received after year-end. A seriously impaired receivable requires an individual value adjustment. A general allowance may supplement the analysis where accounting and tax conditions permit, but must not conceal an obviously uncollectible debtor.

Inventory and work in progress

Book inventory must be reconciled with a reliable stock count. Identify obsolete, damaged or unsaleable goods and items whose realizable value is below recorded cost. For services in progress, the valuation method must be consistent from year to year and supported by time records, progress reports or other evidence.

Fixed assets and depreciation

Check the existence and use of machinery, vehicles, IT equipment, software and fittings recorded in the balance sheet. Sold or scrapped assets must be removed. Depreciation should reflect use and loss of value while taking tax-accepted rates into account. Prudent accounting depreciation is not automatically deductible to the same extent for tax purposes.

4. Reconcile payroll, social charges and VAT

Payroll and social insurance

Total gross salaries, allowances, benefits in kind and deductions must agree with payroll accounts, salary certificates, AVS declarations, accident insurance, daily sickness benefit and occupational pension statements and, where applicable, payroll withholding tax. Also check holiday entitlements, overtime, bonuses or commissions earned by December 31 but not yet paid.

VAT reconciliation

Accounting turnover must be reconciled with turnover declared for VAT, distinguishing rates, exempt transactions, excluded supplies, fixed asset sales, own use, acquisition tax and input VAT corrections. The FTA requires errors identified when preparing annual accounts to be corrected no later than the reporting period in which the 180th day after financial year-end falls.

For a year ending December 31, 2025, the VAT finalization deadline must therefore not be confused with permission to wait until the last moment. A late correction may trigger interest and unnecessarily complicate the file.

5. Examine provisions and related-party relationships

Provisions: accounting prudence, tax evidence

A provision requires a past event creating a probable obligation or identifiable risk with uncertain amount or timing. Litigation, warranties, restoration work or costs already incurred may justify a provision where the facts are documented.

By contrast, discretionary future expenditure, such as a marketing campaign planned for 2026, does not become a 2025 expense merely because a budget exists. The tax authority may add back an inadequately justified provision or value adjustment even if recorded in the commercial accounts.

Shareholder or member current accounts

Reconcile the balance with private movements, expense reimbursements, contributions, withdrawals, dividends and salaries. Check that a contract exists and review repayment terms and interest. For 2025, the tax-accepted interest rates published by the FTA for 2025 remain the relevant reference; 2026 rates published later must not be applied retrospectively to the 2025 closing.

An interest-free or insufficiently remunerated advance to a shareholder may be classified as a benefit in money’s worth. Conversely, excessive interest paid to a related party may be challenged. The opposing party, here the tax authority, will examine economic substance, creditworthiness, security and terms that independent parties would have agreed, not merely the account name.

6. Do not confuse profit, liquidity and financial health

Accounting profit does not guarantee that the company can pay salaries, suppliers or taxes. Management must prepare a short-term cash forecast, identify significant payment dates and ensure funding is sufficient.

For an SA, Articles 725 and following of the Code of Obligations require the board to monitor solvency and respond to a threat of insolvency. If the accounts show capital loss within Article 725a CO, measures must be taken. Where there are serious grounds to suspect overindebtedness, interim accounts must be prepared and the Article 725b CO procedure followed. These rules also apply to Sàrl companies through statutory reference.

The argument “business will pick up” may support a restructuring plan but cannot replace quantified assumptions or legally required measures. In doubt, act promptly with the accounting firm, auditor and, where needed, a legal specialist.

7. Finalize the closing file

Before closing the year, assemble a file containing at least:

• the final trial balance and relevant general ledgers;
• bank reconciliations and cash count records;
• receivables and payables lists with checks performed;
• inventories of stock, fixed assets and work in progress;
• calculations of accruals, deferrals, depreciation, value adjustments and provisions;
• payroll, social insurance and VAT reconciliations;
• loan and lease contracts and related-party current accounts;
• tax calculations, draft notes and profit allocation decisions;
• information on significant events after year-end.

Then arrange the applicable audit. An ordinary audit is required, in particular, where two of the three statutory thresholds — CHF 20 million in total assets, CHF 40 million in turnover and 250 full-time positions — are exceeded in two successive years. Other companies are generally subject to a limited audit unless a valid waiver is available and the opting-out conditions are met.

Finally, books, accounting documents, management reports and audit reports must generally be retained for ten years. Electronic retention is possible if integrity, availability and readability are guaranteed. Longer special periods may apply to certain documents, particularly for real estate VAT.

A simple four-step method

1. Collect: request missing statements, invoices, inventories, contracts and information.
2. Reconcile: match each significant balance to an independent source or supporting breakdown.
3. Assess: analyze asset values, risks, expenses to allocate and related-party obligations.
4. Validate: review accounts with management, document choices, address warnings and prepare approval.

This sequence seems elementary. Yet it prevents most drawn-out closings caused by starting adjustment entries before gathering the facts.

How Delta Conseil SA can support you

Delta Conseil SA can organize document collection, perform reconciliations, prepare closing entries, draw up annual accounts and notes, reconcile VAT and payroll, and coordinate exchanges with auditors and tax authorities. The scope is tailored to company size and the quality of day-to-day bookkeeping.

Frequently asked questions

Can an invoice received in 2026 still be recorded in 2025?

Yes, if the service economically relates to 2025. It should then be recorded as a 2025 expense, generally through a payable or accrued liability depending on the information available.

Can a provision be created solely to reduce taxable profit?

No. It must correspond to a risk or obligation based on events that have already occurred and be estimated defensibly. The tax authority may add back a provision without commercial justification.

Does the accounting firm alone bear responsibility for closing?

No. The firm is responsible for properly carrying out its engagement, but the company’s governing bodies retain their statutory duties. They must provide complete information, examine the accounts and act when warning signs appear.

Must a VAT difference discovered at closing be corrected immediately?

Yes. The correction must be submitted through a corrective return no later than the period containing the 180th day after year-end. It is preferable to correct as soon as the difference is established.

How long should the closing file be kept?

Generally ten years under the Code of Obligations. Certain tax rules prescribe special periods, particularly for real estate documents relating to VAT.

Official sources

• Code of Obligations, in particular Articles 716a, 725–725b, 810, 957–958f and 699
• Ordinance on the Keeping and Retention of Business Accounts
• Federal Act on Value Added Tax, in particular Articles 70 and 72
• FTA — VAT audit and annual reconciliation
• FTA — Depreciation notices for direct federal tax
• FTA — Circular letters on tax-accepted interest rates, including those applicable to 2025
• SECO SME Portal — Auditors and types of audit

Editorial publication date: January 16, 2026.

Last legal review: September 1, 2026.