The notes to the annual accounts

The notes complete the balance sheet and the income statement: they say how the accounts are prepared and what they do not show, such as a lease, a guarantee given or a significant event after the balance sheet date. To Bill asks you the questions one by one and drafts the document.

Who has to prepare notes

Legal form	The notes
Company limited by shares (AG), limited liability company (GmbH), cooperative, association, foundation	Mandatory for your company: they are part of the annual accounts.
Sole proprietorship, partnership	Voluntary for your company, unless it is subject to the rules for larger undertakings.

An association or a foundation that only keeps accounts of income and expenditure does not prepare notes.

Before you start

• Your books are full books: there are no notes with simplified books.
• You need the right to manage the books to change the notes; other users can view them.
• Fill them in before you close the financial year: the closing freezes them.

Answer the questions

Open Accounting › Notes. To Bill opens the last financial year that has ended; change it under Financial year.

1. Check the Legal form and the Registered office (municipality). The form is suggested from the company name or last year’s notes: confirm it.
2. Answer the questions of each group, in order. When a question does not apply to you, turn on Nothing to report: the item does not appear in the notes.
3. Follow the bar at the top: … of … items complete, then Everything is complete. Under To complete:, each open item leads to its question.
4. Click Save. Until you do, an Unsaved changes bar stays visible at the bottom of the screen.

On the right, the Document preview updates with each answer: it is the document that will be printed. As long as items are open, it carries the mark “Draft”.

The figures come from your books

The amounts your books know, such as participations, own shares, loans or exceptional expenses, are taken over automatically, with the previous year’s figures; others, such as lease liabilities already on the balance sheet, are shown next to the question. To Bill also flags an answer that contradicts your books, for example “Nothing to report” for participations when the balance sheet shows some.

Group	What it asks
Your company	The legal form and registered office; the average number of full-time positions (10 or fewer, 11 to 50, 51 to 250, more than 250); the auditor.
Methods and explanations	Your accounting methods; a planned discontinuation of the business; other explanations on the balance sheet or the income statement.
Capital and shareholdings	Shares in other businesses; own shares; shares or options granted to management and staff; for an AG, changes of capital within the capital band.
Off-balance-sheet commitments	Leases and long-term rentals; liabilities to the pension fund; guarantees given; assets pledged as security; risks that are hard to quantify.
Result and events	Exceptional transactions; hidden reserves released; bond issues; significant events after the balance sheet date; the auditor’s resignation.
Ordinary audit	Only with an ordinary audit: the maturity of long-term liabilities and the auditor’s fees.
Signatures	The signature lines to add to the PDF: place, chair, person responsible for the accounts.

Next year

When the previous year’s notes are filled in, To Bill offers Carry over answers: the form, the registered office, the headcount, the audit, your methods, the leases, the guarantees and the signatures are taken over. Check them, then complete what has changed.

Download the document

Choose the document language (1): FR, DE, IT or EN. Only the document changes language. Click Download PDF (2): To Bill first saves your answers, then creates the PDF.

For an AG, a GmbH or a cooperative, the Profit appropriation card leads to the proposal that goes with the annual accounts submitted to the meeting. See Have the profit appropriation decided.

After the closing: the notes frozen

Closing the financial year freezes the notes along with the rest of the annual accounts: the answers, the figures taken from your books and the company data. The notes are then read-only; the PDF remains available.

To correct them, reopen the financial year from Go to the year-end closing: the notes can be edited again until the next closing. See Close the financial year.

Legal basis

• The annual accounts consist of the balance sheet, the income statement and the notes; they are signed by the chair of the most senior management body and by the person responsible for the accounts: Art. 958 para. 2 and 3 CO.
• The content of the notes: Art. 959c para. 1 and 2 CO. Sole proprietorships and partnerships do not have to prepare notes if they are not subject to the rules for larger undertakings: Art. 959c para. 3 CO. Bond issuers: Art. 959c para. 4 CO.
• With an ordinary audit, the notes break down the interest-bearing long-term liabilities and state the auditor’s fees: Art. 961a CO.
• A planned discontinuation of the business and its effect are commented on in the notes: Art. 958a para. 3 CO.