demeris
Ten years: the basic rule
The Swiss Code of Obligations requires companies to retain their accounting books, accounting records, management report and audit report for ten years (Art. 958f CO). This covers in particular invoices, accounting entries, purchase and delivery orders, payroll statements and proof of payment.
The period runs from the end of the relevant financial year: a document from the current financial year must therefore remain accessible for a good decade.
The real question is not ‘paper or digital’, but ‘can I prove that this document has not been altered?’.
Paper or electronic: both are permitted
The law does not favour any particular medium. Electronic retention is permitted provided the authenticity, integrity, readability and availability of the data are guaranteed. The Ordinance on the Keeping and Retention of Business Records (GeBüV) sets out these conditions in detail.
In practical terms: you can keep everything in digital form, but you must be able to prove that your documents are authentic, complete and unaltered throughout the entire retention period.
The heart of the matter: integrity
Article 9 of the GeBüV distinguishes between two cases. On a non-modifiable medium (for example a PDF/A burned onto a non-rewritable disc), no additional requirements apply, since any alteration would be detectable.
On a modifiable medium (hard drive, server, cloud), technical and organisational measures are required: timestamping, logging, access control and documented processes. The goal remains the same: to prove the moment of recording, with no possibility of modification or falsification.
Archiving in the cloud: possible, under certain conditions
Online storage falls under the category of modifiable media. It remains entirely permissible, provided that, in particular, the data remains retrievable for ten years, sensitive information is encrypted, and documented processes are in place.
This is also an opportunity to consider the question of hosting and data location — a point of attention for many Swiss SMEs in connection with data protection.
In practice for your SME
A few useful habits: favour a durable format such as PDF/A, document your archiving processes, define who has access to what, and keep in mind that responsibility rests primarily with management. A DMS solution designed for legally compliant archiving covers most of these requirements.
This information is general in nature and does not replace personalised advice: have your archiving system validated by your fiduciary or a specialist before deploying it.
