ERP and accounting software in Zurich

Doing business in Zurich

Zurich has about 452,000 residents, according to the city's statistics office for 2025, and the federal business census counted around 47,800 workplaces in the city in 2024. Banks and insurers line the Bahnhofstrasse and Paradeplatz, technology and creative firms have taken over the old industrial halls of Zürich-West, and Oerlikon and the Glattpark towards the airport host offices, labs and service companies.

Companies are entered in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich, visible through Zefix, and many handle their VAT registration and other formalities through EasyGov. The Zürcher Handelskammer represents the business community. A Zurich SME's typical headache is currency: costs in francs, revenue partly in euros or dollars, and VAT that must still be reported in CHF. Skyline Nexus ERP keeps that straight on every document.

Modules Zurich businesses start with

• Accounting and branches
• Projects and job costing
• Property, units and leases
• CRM
• Inventory and warehouses

Banking, insurance and asset management

Around Zurich's banks and insurers work independent asset managers, family offices, brokers and advisory boutiques with small teams and demanding clients. Skyline Nexus ERP keeps their own books in Swiss francs, issues fee invoices in euros or dollars at an exchange rate entered on the document, and tags revenue and costs by mandate or cost centre, so profitability per client relationship is visible.

Records must survive a decade of scrutiny. Skyline Nexus logs every change with user, time and old and new values, refuses postings into locked periods, and exports the trial balance, ledgers and VAT summary into one Excel audit pack. Portfolio valuation and client reporting stay in specialised systems; Skyline Nexus handles the firm's accounting, invoicing and treasury.

Life sciences and healthcare service companies

Zurich's hospitals and life sciences firms depend on suppliers that deliver, install and maintain laboratory and medical equipment. For such a service company Skyline Nexus ERP records each installed device as an asset, takes service requests from the customer site, and turns them into work orders with technician, parts, permits and downtime, while PPM schedules list the next planned visit per device.

Consumables and reagents are held by lot, and the Lot Report and Stock Expiry Report in Skyline Nexus show what must be used or sold first. Warranty claims against manufacturers are tracked per asset. Clinical and regulatory quality records remain in the hospital's or manufacturer's own systems; the ERP brings stock, service contracts and the CHF ledger together.

Education, research and spin-offs

ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich feed a steady stream of spin-offs into Technopark, Zürich-West and the innovation park in Dübendorf. Their early finances revolve around research contracts and grants, often in euros. Skyline Nexus ERP runs each grant or industry contract as a project with a budget, milestones and cost centre, so spending is reported per funder rather than in one pot.

As a spin-off starts to sell, the same system takes over quotes, sales invoices, purchasing and stock. The CRM in Skyline Nexus tracks the first customer pipeline, equipment bought with grant money sits in the asset register with depreciation, and the facility module can record lab and office space allocations once the team spreads over several floors.

Compliance for a Zurich business

As of October 2026, a Zurich invoice must meet Art. 26 MWSTG: your name and town, MWST number, the customer's name and town, the date and description of the supply, the amount and the VAT rate, which is 8.1% standard, 2.6% reduced or 3.8% for accommodation. Till slips up to CHF 400 need no customer details, and a business below CHF 100,000 worldwide turnover that is not registered shows no VAT.

Invoices in euros or dollars are allowed, with VAT converted to CHF at the ESTV rate. Books and vouchers are kept for 10 years under Art. 958f OR, and longer for real property. E-invoicing is voluntary except for federal customers above CHF 5,000. A payment slip must be a QR-bill, which Skyline Nexus ERP does not produce yet, so invoices go out without a slip.

Getting started from Zurich

A Zurich company moving to Skyline Nexus ERP creates its business with CHF as the base currency, imports its chart of accounts, then customers and suppliers with open balances and products with opening stock. GL opening balances are entered on one screen that only saves when it balances, and running grants or mandates are set up as projects with their remaining budgets.

The free trial lets a Zurich team issue a test invoice in euros, check the CHF VAT figures and run a trial balance before deciding. Support is by WhatsApp, phone and e-mail in English, and Skyline Nexus ERP has no office in Zurich. Groups with companies in several countries, and firms that rely on QR-bill payment slips, should book a demo first.

1. Create the business in CHF, enter your MWST number and set up a fiscal year with monthly periods.
2. Add VAT rates of 8.1%, 2.6% and 3.8%, and enable the currencies you invoice in, such as EUR and USD.
3. Import contacts with open balances and set up each mandate, grant or service contract as a project.
4. Issue one foreign-currency invoice and check that the VAT shown in CHF matches the ESTV rate you used.

Questions from Zurich businesses

Can a Zurich asset manager keep its books in CHF and bill clients in euros?

Yes. Skyline Nexus ERP keeps a Zurich asset manager's ledger in Swiss francs and issues fee invoices in euros or dollars at an exchange rate entered on each document. Revenue can be tagged by mandate or cost centre. Rates are entered manually, so the firm uses the ESTV rate for the VAT conversion that Swiss rules require.

Does Skyline Nexus ERP produce Swiss QR-bills?

No. Skyline Nexus ERP does not produce QR-bill payment slips yet. A Swiss invoice only needs a QR-bill when it includes a payment slip, so a Zurich business can send invoices with bank details and no slip, or keep a separate tool for QR-bills until Skyline Nexus adds them. Ask us about the roll-out date.

Which VAT rates must a Zurich business show on its invoices?

As of October 2026, a Zurich business registered for VAT shows 8.1% on standard supplies, 2.6% on reduced-rate goods such as food, books and medicines, and 3.8% on accommodation, together with its MWST number. Skyline Nexus ERP holds each rate as a tax rate, so mixed invoices calculate the VAT per line.

Does Skyline Nexus ERP suit an ETH spin-off in Zurich?

Skyline Nexus ERP suits an ETH spin-off that must report spending per grant or research contract. Each funding source runs as a project with a budget and cost centre, equipment goes into the asset register, and the CRM and sales invoicing take over once the first customers sign. The ledger stays in CHF throughout.

Can a Zurich life sciences service company manage equipment maintenance in Skyline Nexus ERP?

Yes. Skyline Nexus ERP lets a Zurich service company record each installed device as an asset, take service requests from customer sites, run work orders with technician, parts and downtime, plan visits with PPM schedules and track warranty claims. Consumables are held by lot with expiry reports.

Is Skyline Nexus ERP available in German, French and Italian?

Skyline Nexus ERP is available in English and Arabic, with interface translations for many other languages, including German, French and Italian, and untranslated screens fall back to English. Each user chooses a language, which suits Zurich teams with colleagues from every part of Switzerland. Tax rates can be named MWST, TVA or IVA as the business prefers.

How long must a Zurich company keep its accounting records?

A Zurich company keeps its books and vouchers for 10 years under Art. 958f OR, and records on real property for longer. Electronic storage is allowed if the records stay readable and unaltered. Skyline Nexus ERP keeps posted journals with their source documents, and its Excel audit pack can be exported each year and archived for the full retention period.

Skyline Nexus ERP is a cloud service run by Skyline Industrial Solution. We have no office in Zurich; support is by WhatsApp, phone and e-mail.

Figures and rules on this page change. This is general information, not tax or legal advice: confirm the current position with the authority named above or your adviser.