Foreign currency
Whoever buys or sells in foreign currency but books in francs needs a rate per document date, a valuation of foreign currency holdings at the balance sheet date, and the posting of the exchange differences that arise.
Definition
Two kinds of difference must be distinguished: the realised one, which arises on payment because the rate that day differs from the invoice rate, and the unrealised one from the valuation at the closing date. Both belong in the income statement, the second with reversal in the following year.
The Federal Tax Administration publishes daily rates and monthly average rates. Which of them is used is a business decision — but it has to be uniform and stay so, otherwise the result is no longer comparable.
Where to read it
What the software must be able to do
The check is the rate table: are rates held per date, fetched automatically and recalculated on payment? And does the software compute the closing-date valuation itself? Without both, exchange differences arise by hand at year end.
Checked Aug 2026
More terms under Bookkeeping and retention: Accrual principle Accrued liabilities Annual accounts Association accounting Balance sheet Balance sheet total Book value Break-even point Business assets Business expenses Cash book Cash flow statement Cash receipts Contribution margin Cost centre Current assets Debit and credit Depreciation Double-entry bookkeeping Duty to keep accounts EBIT EBITDA Equity Equity ratio Financial year Fixed assets Fixed costs General ledger Gross profit Hidden reserves Income statement Inventory count Journal Journal entry Liabilities Liquidity Loss carry-forward Membership dues Net profit Opening balance sheet Overheads Pass-through item Prepaid expenses Provision Record-keeping ordinance Reserves Retained profit Simple accounts Swiss SME chart of accounts Tamper resistance Turnover Value adjustment Variable costs Volunteer-run structure Voucher Year-end closing modules