Digital accounting: which documents should you keep, and for how long?

Moving to digital accounting does not simply mean replacing a filing cabinet with a cloud folder called “Archives”. For an accounting record to remain usable ten years later, you must still be able to find it, read it, link it to the relevant transaction and demonstrate that it has not been altered without a trace.

Swiss law broadly permits electronic retention. However, it does not set a single retention period for every business document: the ten-year rule predominates in accounting, but property-related VAT records, personnel files, contracts and data that no longer serves a purpose follow different principles.

Here is a practical method for deciding what to keep, for how long and under what conditions.

At a glance

• Accounting books and records, annual reports and audit reports must generally be retained for ten years from the end of the financial year.
• Invoices, bank statements, expense reports, payment evidence, inventories and payroll documents may be archived electronically if their integrity, readability and link to the transaction are guaranteed.
• Business records relevant to VAT on immovable property must be retained for twenty years, or longer if the tax claim is not yet time-barred.
• A shared drive, an email inbox or cloud synchronization alone does not guarantee compliant archiving.
• A printed and signed copy of the annual report and the audit report must be retained.
• Where several rules apply to a document, apply the longest relevant retention period and document the decision.

The basic rule: ten years, but not for everything

Article 958f of the Code of Obligations requires accounting books and records, the annual report and the audit report to be retained for ten years. The period starts at the end of the financial year, not on the date of each invoice.

The concept of an accounting record is functional: it is a document needed to understand and verify a transaction or another event recorded in the accounts. A supplier invoice is one example. A contract, email or delivery note may also qualify if it explains the nature, amount or terms of an accounting entry.

This table provides a classification framework, not permission for automatic destruction. Tax proceedings, litigation, a warranty, a sector-specific obligation or an unexpired limitation period may require longer retention.

Which accounting documents should you actually keep?

An SME should be able to reconstruct its accounts and substantiate significant items without depending on an employee’s memory or future access to software. The file generally includes:

• the journal, general ledger, subsidiary ledgers and chart of accounts;
• customer and supplier invoices, credit notes, receipts and till receipts;
• bank and card statements, payment evidence and reconciliations;
• expense reports, cash reconciliations and vehicle-related documents;
• inventory records, receivables and payables lists, fixed-asset schedules and depreciation calculations;
• VAT returns, tax returns and documents needed to verify them;
• payroll journals, salary certificates, social insurance statements and the corresponding accounting records;
• contracts, orders, delivery notes, emails and internal resolutions where they explain a transaction;
• the year-end closing file and evidence supporting estimates, provisions and value adjustments.

The last point directly connects with our accounting year-end checklist for SMEs : an entry that is correct today must still be understandable during an audit several years later.

What should not automatically be kept for ten years

Duplicates, working drafts without evidential value, unsuccessful job applications, employees’ private documents and unnecessary sensitive data do not become accounting records simply because they are stored in the same folder. Data protection instead requires retention to be limited to a justified purpose.

For personnel files, the FDPIC distinguishes, in particular, five years for certain data relating to salary payments, working hours, absences and holidays, and ten years for data needed to issue an employment reference. Where a payslip or payroll journal also constitutes an accounting record, the ten-year accounting retention requirement remains decisive.

How is the ten-year period calculated?

The starting point is the end of the financial year. An invoice dated May 12, 2026, recorded in a financial year ending on December 31, 2026, must therefore be retained until December 31, 2036. If the financial year ends on June 30, 2026, the period runs until June 30, 2036.

In practice, a business can adopt an annual destruction date after the year-end closing has been validated and exceptions checked. This avoids deleting documents individually and allows destruction to be suspended when an audit or dispute is ongoing.

Requirements for compliant electronic archiving

The Swiss ordinance on keeping and retaining accounting records (Olico, its French abbreviation) requires more than the mere existence of a file. It requires proper, organized and verifiable retention. A sound system must cover at least the following elements.

1. Integrity and traceability

Books and records must not be capable of being altered without the change being apparent. On rewritable media—a hard drive, server or cloud—technical measures must ensure integrity: for example locking, version control, restricted permissions, logging, sealing or time-stamping. Electronic signatures are one possible tool, but compliance depends on the entire system and its documentation.

2. Link to the transaction

The file must be unambiguously linked to the entry, supplier, customer, period and, where necessary, contract or payment. A folder full of files called “scan001.pdf” has a certain administrative poetry, but limited operational value.

3. Availability and readability

Authorized persons must be able to consult and check documents at any time and within a reasonable period. The necessary software, format migrations and an exit plan for the provider must therefore be arranged. PDF/A is useful for long-term retention, but it is neither a magic formula nor the only possible format.

4. Organization and documentation

The filing structure, responsibilities, access rights, digitization process, checks, backups, migrations and destruction procedures must be described proportionately to the size of the business. This documentation allows a third party to understand the system even if its designer has left the company.

5. Security and backups

An archive must be protected against accidental deletion, unauthorized access, ransomware and the provider’s disappearance. Separate backups, encrypted where the risk requires it and accompanied by restoration tests, are essential. A backup protects against loss; an archive demonstrates what has been retained. The two functions complement each other but are not the same.

Can paper originals be discarded after scanning?

For ordinary accounting books and records, the Code of Obligations permits electronic retention or an equivalent form if the link to the underlying facts, integrity and readability are guaranteed. Compliant digitization can therefore, in principle, allow the paper to be discarded.

However, a printed and signed copy of the annual report and the audit report must be retained. It is also prudent to keep originals whose form or evidential force may become decisive: public deeds, securities, guarantees, important contracts signed by hand, documents bearing an original annotation or records liable to be challenged. In tax matters, the authorities may also request original supporting documents depending on the circumstances.

The correct sequence is therefore: scan, check completeness and readability, index, lock the archive, verify the backup, then decide on destruction under an approved retention matrix. Scanning and immediately discarding reverses the proper order of checks.

The opposing view: “a PDF is enough”

During an audit or dispute, an authority, insurer or opposing party may challenge the file’s origin, date, completeness or absence of alteration. An isolated PDF, created recently and with no history, does not address that objection as effectively as a document retained in a documented system with an audit trail, accounting links and access rights.

Electronic retention is therefore permitted, but its evidential force is not automatic. The higher the stakes, the more important it is to preserve the native file, useful metadata, the transmission context and, for certain instruments, the original.

A practical method in eight steps

1. Identify the sources: accounting, invoicing, banking, cash, payroll, VAT, tax, emails and platforms.
2. Classify documents by legal category and confidentiality level.
3. Assign a period and a starting event: financial year-end, contract termination, file closure or another specific rule.
4. Define exceptions: property-related VAT, disputes, audits, warranties and sector-specific obligations.
5. Choose a system that ensures integrity, search, export, logging and access control.
6. Document digitization, checks, backups, migrations and destruction.
7. Test a sample of archives and a complete restoration each year.
8. Destroy in a controlled manner what has reached the end of its retention period and is no longer needed.

The final step matters too. Keeping personal data indefinitely increases the volume exposed in an incident and may breach the principles of purpose limitation and proportionality. Our article on generative AI and data protection in SMEs illustrates the same principle: a tool never removes the need to govern the information entrusted to it.

The mistakes we encounter most often

• confusing backup, synchronization and archiving with evidential value;
• leaving records solely in an employee’s email inbox;
• losing access to supporting documents after changing software or accounting firm;
• altering or replacing a file without keeping a trace;
• destroying originals before checking the scans;
• applying ten years to all data, including data that should be deleted sooner;
• forgetting the twenty-year period for certain property-related VAT records.

How Delta Conseil SA can support you

Delta Conseil SA can help an SME inventory its document flows, establish a retention matrix, organize accounting records, define digitization checks and prepare an easily verifiable year-end closing file. We can also coordinate specialist technical or legal matters where the system, industry or a dispute requires it.

Caution

Retention periods vary according to the type of document, industry, tax concerned, limitation period and the existence of an audit or dispute. Before large-scale destruction, validate the matrix with accounting, tax, HR, legal and IT managers. If in doubt about a specific document, the right response is neither “keep everything” nor “discard everything”, but to establish its function.

Frequently asked questions

Must an invoice received by email be printed?

No. It may be retained electronically if the system guarantees its integrity, readability, classification and link to the transaction. Keeping the original file received is generally preferable to printing it and scanning it again.

Are Dropbox, OneDrive or SharePoint sufficient?

Not automatically. These tools can form part of a compliant solution, but version control, logs, permissions, retention rules, backups, export and the ability to prove that a record has not been altered without a trace must be checked.

Must emails be kept for ten years?

Only where they constitute accounting records or are needed to understand a transaction or defend a right. Purely organizational messages, duplicates and exchanges without evidential value do not automatically fall within the accounting retention period.

Can software be changed during the retention period?

Yes, provided the integrity, completeness, readability and traceability of the data are preserved. Prepare the export before terminating the contract, document the migration and verify by sampling that records and their links remain accessible.

Who is responsible if the accounting firm or cloud provider keeps the records?

Outsourcing does not remove the responsibility of the business and its governing bodies. The engagement must specify roles, access, backups, return of data, contract termination and destruction. The business must be able to retrieve its archives in a usable format.

Official sources

• Code of Obligations, Article 958f — keeping and retaining accounting records
• Ordinance on keeping and retaining accounting records (Olico)
• SECO SME portal — Electronic retention of accounting records
• VAT Act, Article 70 — accounting and retention
• Federal Tax Administration — VAT audits
• FDPIC — Frequently asked questions on data protection, particularly personnel files

Last legal review: September 2, 2026.

Disclaimer

This publication is provided for information only and does not constitute individualized legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Each situation must be assessed in light of its specific circumstances and the law applicable at the time of the decision.

For further information, please consult our Legal notice and disclaimer.