Fiduciary (Switzerland)

A Swiss fiduciary (fiduciaire / Treuhänder) is a licensed accounting and tax professional who provides bookkeeping, accounting, tax compliance, payroll and management advisory services to Swiss companies and individuals. Unlike the French expert-comptable (who is a statutory member of the OEC order and may sign statutory accounts), the Swiss fiduciaire does not have a monopoly on accounting services and is not typically the auditor — that role belongs to the organe de révision. Fiduciaries are the primary point of financial advice for Swiss SMEs.

In the context of Franco-Swiss M&A and business valuation, the fiduciary is a key intermediary: they typically hold historical financial data, tax records, and often have a long-standing relationship with the business owner. In a sell-side process, the fiduciary may be the first advisor contacted and often coordinates the provision of financial information for due diligence. Understanding the fiduciary's role and the quality of their work is an important qualitative data point in a financial due diligence.

Swiss fiduciaries are typically registered with cantonal fiduciary associations and, for larger firms, with EXPERTsuisse (the professional association of auditors, tax and fiduciary experts). The quality of their work varies significantly: some fiduciaries are sophisticated financial advisors; others focus purely on compliance. Distinguishing between these profiles is important in assessing the reliability of the financial statements provided in a due diligence context.

At Hectelion, we work alongside Swiss fiduciaries and coordinate with them in our due diligence and valuation mandates on Swiss targets.