Turn on accounting
To Bill keeps your books from your invoices, payments and expenses. Turning it on takes about 8 minutes, and nothing is written until you confirm.
Before you start
- You must be an Administrator of the company. Other users see the message For the administrator.
- Your subscription must be active.
- Your fiduciary can also turn it on for you, from their cockpit: see Your fiduciary can turn it on for you.
Experimental feature
Accounting is still in development. Check your figures with your fiduciary before you file any return.
Open the wizard
In the menu, click Accounting, marked New (1). The page introduces accounting and shows what To Bill can take over from your account. Click Start (2).
The same button is in Settings › Modules, on the Accounting card.
Answer the three questions
Everything is filled in from your account. Check each answer, then click Continue.
Company. To Bill shows what it found: invoices, credit notes, payments received and expenses. Check the Legal form, worked out from your company name, and the Main activity. Keep the full Chart of accounts, which is recommended, and the Start of the financial year.
VAT and accounts. Your VAT status comes from your settings. To change it, click Change in settings. If you are registered for VAT, choose when VAT is due: When invoicing, the rule, or When paid, only if the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has granted it to you. Tick what applies to your business. Finally, check the account of each expense category.
Starting point. Choose from when To Bill keeps your books. If your fiduciary has already closed your accounts, keep First day of the year + opening balance and enter the figures of their last balance sheet. Without a balance sheet from your fiduciary, To Bill prepares it with you: see The opening balance without a balance sheet from your fiduciary. If you kept no books elsewhere, choose From the beginning: your whole history is posted. Then click Check before opening.
You enter the opening balance line by line, or import it from a CSV file of your previous software with Import a CSV. See Moving your books from other software.
A newly founded company
Its first financial year can last from 1 to 24 months. Under Your first financial year, choose Shorter or longer first financial year, then its dates.
The opening balance without a balance sheet from your fiduciary
No balance sheet from your fiduciary? Start from what To Bill knows. Under Opening balance, the box What To Bill knows at 31.12.2025 lists, for the day before your books start:
- your invoices still open, on account 1100;
- each bank account in francs, on account 1020, then 1021, 1022… for the next ones. Its balance comes from your imported bank statement, if there is one at that date. Otherwise, enter it;
- if you account for VAT on payments received, the VAT still due on these invoices, on account 2202.
If To Bill does not know the balance of a bank account, enter it in the field on its line.
Click Take it all and balance (1). To Bill adds these lines, then a line on your equity that balances the balance sheet.
Check the equity line, marked Calculated automatically (2), and the indicator Balanced: debit = credit.
Each line can also be added on its own, with Add this line.
When debit and credit differ
Under the lines, To Bill shows how much is missing and on which side, for example: “CHF 3’967.29 is missing on the credit side: this is usually the counterpart in your equity.” Click Balance automatically (1), next to the message.
The equity line
What you own, minus what you owe: that is your equity. To Bill puts the difference on the account for your legal form:
- Company limited by shares (SA, AG), limited liability company (Sàrl, GmbH) or cooperative: 2970 Retained earnings / accumulated losses brought forward. The share capital (2800) is never changed: its amount is the one in your articles of association.
- Sole proprietorship or partnership: 2800, the owner’s equity at the start of the year. In a partnership, your fiduciary then splits it between the partners.
The line follows every change to the other lines, until you change it yourself. If your books start during the year, the income and expense accounts keep their lines, and the difference still goes to your equity. In the journal, the line is described as an opening difference carried to equity automatically, for your fiduciary to review.
Correct the opening balance later
Your fiduciary hands you their balance sheet after your books are open? Correct the opening balance entry, without starting the activation again.
- Open Accounting › Journal, then entry no. 1, the opening balance at 01.01.2026.
- Click Reverse and correct. Enter the reason, then the lines of your fiduciary’s balance sheet.
- Click Reverse and book.
The reversal and the correction are dated on the first day of your books: your opening balance becomes your fiduciary’s. See Correct an entry.
Check the preview
To Bill simulates your books without writing anything: Preview: nothing is written yet. Under Before opening, it lists what it found.
- To fix: these points block the opening.
- To check: they do not block it, but deserve a look.
- For a document, click Fix (1): the document opens. For example, for an invoice marked paid without a payment, record the payment on its date. A payment in another currency counts too, for example in euros for an invoice in francs: it settles the invoice at the rate set when it was recorded. See Foreign currencies.
- For one of your answers, click Change: the wizard goes back to the right step.
- Return to the wizard, then click Check again. Your answers are kept.
Further down, Checks, Simulated trial balance and VAT by period show your books as they will be. Export the preview downloads it all for your fiduciary.
Open your books
When nothing is left to fix, the Open the books button (1) becomes active. To Bill shows how many documents will be posted and the date your books start.
A company with no documents yet
If your company is just starting, with no invoice or expense, To Bill does not ask the three questions: a single screen takes the legal form from your setup and your VAT status, sets your first financial year and opens empty books, with the same button. All options opens the full wizard, for example to enter an opening balance.
An entry cannot be deleted
A mistake is corrected afterwards with a reversing entry. Once the books are open, accounting stays on: it cannot be turned off in your settings.
To Bill posts your documents in date order. You can leave the page: the work goes on. At the end, Your books are open appears, with two checks: the journal is intact, and your books match the preview.
Last step: say how you keep your books, as Full books or Simplified books: see Simplified books. Then click Go to my accounting (1).
Your fiduciary can turn it on for you
If your fiduciary follows your company in To Bill, they can start the same wizard from their cockpit, on your behalf. The company’s administrators are notified in To Bill and by email. See Turn on a client’s accounting.
Next steps
- The accounting home page: the Get started card and what is waiting for action.
- The journal and entries: your entries, the supporting documents and corrections.
- The health of your books: the checks on your books.
Legal basis
- Legal entities, and sole proprietorships and partnerships with sales revenue of at least CHF 500’000 in the last financial year, keep full accounts. Below that, accounts of income and expenditure and of the asset position are enough: Art. 957 CO.
- The accounting records and supporting documents are kept for ten years: Art. 958f CO.
- The liabilities side of the balance sheet comprises borrowed capital and equity, equity being presented according to the legal form: Art. 959 para. 4 and 7 CO. For a company, it includes in particular the share capital and the profit or loss carried forward: Art. 959a para. 2 no. 3 CO.
- VAT is accounted for on the basis of the consideration agreed, that is, when invoicing. Accounting on the basis of the consideration received requires the FTA’s authorisation: Art. 39 VAT Act.