How to automate supplier invoice processing in Switzerland

What does accounts payable automation cover?

Automating supplier invoice processing means taking each invoice from receipt to archiving without retyping, while a person keeps the decisions. The chain has seven steps; OCR covers only one of them, reading.

Accounts payable (AP)

Tracking the invoices received, from entry to payment; also called creditor accounting (Kreditorenbuchhaltung in German).

Invoice approval workflow (AP workflow)

The circuit that submits a captured invoice to one or more authorised people before payment (Kreditorenworkflow in German).

Invoice digitisation

The move from paper to file, then the reading of the data; also called invoice capture.

QR-bill and invoice OCR in Switzerland: what is left to read?

The QR-bill removes the need for OCR for most payment data. Its code contains machine-readable data, which a reader or an app decodes as it is:

• Account: IBAN, or QR-IBAN (institution identifier from 30000 to 31999) reserved for payments with a QR reference;
• Amount and currency: CHF or EUR;
• Reference: 27-digit QR reference including a check digit, Creditor Reference starting with RF, or none;
• Addresses: structured only, since 22 November 2025;
• Billing information, optional: the //S1/ syntax can carry the invoice number, the date, the UID number (Swiss business identification number) and the VAT breakdown.

Still to be read:

• the line items and the split between VAT rates, if the issuer has not filled in the billing information;
• foreign invoices: the QR-bill is the Swiss and Liechtenstein standard, and a German or French supplier generally sends a PDF without a Swiss QR code;
• PDFs without a QR code: till receipts, expense claims, credit notes, invoices already paid by card;
• paper, which must be digitised first.

To test a code you have received, use the QR-bill validator.

Invoice capture: what does Swiss accounting software already do?

Most Swiss accounting software already reads the QR code; fewer packages read invoices without a QR code, often with a quota. Here is what the vendors publish as at 27 September 2026.

Beyond the quota, bexio states that the data has to be entered by hand, unless you move up to a higher plan. The tool-by-tool detail, with dedicated tools and stated hosting, is in our invoice capture software comparison.

Checks and AP approval workflow: what should you verify before paying?

Useful checks prevent a wrongful payment: a duplicate, a changed IBAN, incomplete VAT details, an amount above a threshold. They are set up once, then applied to every invoice.

An IBAN change deserves the strictest rule: a message can imitate a real supplier and announce a new account. Only a call to a number already on file, not the one given in the message, confirms the change. The IBAN checker shows the bank and the BIC for an account.

Keeping electronic invoices: what do the CO and the GeBüV require?

A scanned invoice remains an accounting voucher if it is retained in line with the Code of Obligations and the GeBüV (SR 221.431). The CO defines an accounting voucher as any record, on paper or in electronic form, needed to verify the transaction (Art. 957a para. 3 CO).

• Period: ten years from the end of the financial year, not from the invoice date (Art. 958f para. 1 CO).
• Link and readability: electronic storage is permitted if the link with the transaction is guaranteed and the record can be read at any time (Art. 958f para. 3 CO).
• Integrity: a modification must not go unnoticed (Art. 3 GeBüV).
• Rewritable media (hard disk, SSD, magnetic tape): permitted with a procedure that guarantees integrity, such as an electronic signature, tamper-proof time stamping, documented procedures and retained logs (Art. 9 GeBüV).
• Access: consultations and access recorded, logs kept for as long as the media (Art. 8 GeBüV).
• Documentation: organisation, responsibilities and procedures described in work instructions (Art. 4 GeBüV).

VAT follows the same rules: Art. 122 of the VAT Ordinance refers to the CO and the GeBüV, and the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) does not require a qualified electronic signature. The detailed deadlines are in our retention guide.

How do you calculate the gain when you automate invoice processing?

The gain is calculated with your volumes, your times and your hourly cost, not with a market average. Three measurements are enough:

1. Count the documents in an ordinary month, by type: QR-bills, PDFs without a QR code, paper, foreign invoices. For a fiduciary (Treuhand) firm, as outsourced accounting practices are called in Switzerland: number of client files × average documents per file.
2. Time a representative batch, from the invoice’s arrival to the approved entry, in minutes per type.
3. Take the full hourly cost of the person doing the entry: salary, social security contributions, workstation.

Then apply three formulas:

• Gross monthly gain = documents per month × minutes saved per document ÷ 60 × hourly cost.
• Net gain = gross gain, minus the monthly cost of the tool, minus the hours spent on exceptions × hourly cost.
• Break-even volume = monthly cost of the tool × 60 ÷ (minutes saved per document × hourly cost).

The minutes saved are not your current entry minutes: a check per invoice and the exceptions remain. Measure them after a one-month trial rather than estimating them.

From what volume is it worth it?

As long as your documents without a QR code stay below your accounting software’s quota, the built-in tool, often included in the plan, is the simplest solution: start with it. The question arises beyond the quota (50 extractions per month in bexio Advanced), when several channels or several companies are mixed, or when the time goes less into typing than into chasing and checking.

Where to start: a six-step plan

Start with a measurable flow, then extend the scope.

1. Inventory the intake channels (email addresses, post, portals, eBill in e-banking) and the volumes by type over one month.
2. Clean up the supplier master file: verified IBANs, UID numbers, default expense account and VAT code. Automation reproduces the errors in this file.
3. Write down the approval rules: who approves what, from what amount, who stands in for whom during absences.
4. Start with QR-bills, whose payment data is already structured, then extend to PDFs without a QR code.
5. Document the procedure in a work instruction, as Art. 4 GeBüV requires, including how exceptions are handled.
6. Measure again after a full month: time per document, share of exceptions, duplicates and blocked IBANs. Adjust the thresholds before extending.

Where does Dossivio Capture fit in?

Dossivio Capture handles the part of the chain that accounting software covers least: gathering all the documents, checking them and chasing the ones that are missing. Invoices arrive by email, portal or scan; each one is matched to the right client file, its data is extracted and the entry is prepared for your accounting software.

• Duplicates and IBAN changes flagged before booking.
• Missing documents chased, with the status of expected documents per client.
• Sign-off by an authorised person before anything is sent or paid.
• Data hosted in Switzerland.

Capture is available from CHF 149 per month for up to 30 client files, CHF 390 for up to 100 and CHF 890 for up to 300, excl. VAT. The process assessment, at a fixed price of CHF 3,500, measures your current chain and tells you whether your accounting software is enough. See Dossivio Capture and the bexio connection.