We have chosen Switzerland for several reasons. First of all Swiss accounting is neither examined in our textbook nor is it one of our native countries. This was one of the requirements of the exercise. Then we thought that Switzerland is interesting because of its cultural background. There are four languages spoken in Switzerland, which are enclosed by 5 neighbors (Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria). The Swiss adopted the language of Germany, France, and Italy and that led us to the assumption that the Swiss accounting probably might be influenced by at least one or even more of its neighbors. Another reason for choosing Switzerland was the well-known banking secrecy and the importance of privacy and secrecy in general. To get information about Swiss accounting we looked at the articles in newspapers, books, magazines, and the Internet. Interestingly it seemed that even the professionals wrangle with the challenges of switching the accounting system. Because Switzerland isn‘t a member of the European Union it was interesting to examine to which extent the EU policy in terms of accounting influences Swiss accounting.
             Switzerland has only very few natural resources and a restricted surface area (~ 41 million km², 60% of the surface is alpine area) (source: http://www.derweg.org/laender/schweiz/schweieinf.htm). Foreign trade is essential for its wealth. The total population of about 7,200,000 and - associated with that - a relatively small domestic market is another factor that forced Swiss manufacturers to look for cross-border trade. They need foreign markets in order to make an investment in research and development worthwhile.
             The constitution of Switzerland was published in 1848 and guarantees freedom of the press and settlement, religious and association liberty. Paragon for the swiss institution was the institution of the U.S. fro
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