The commercial register lists 135 active companies in legal, accounting and fiduciary services in the canton of Schaffhausen, placing Schaffhausen 20th nationally for this sector (<1 % of the national total). 86 of them (64 %) are VAT-registered, and 47 (35 %) published an official change in the past 18 months: registration, amendment, change of officers, share capital or address.
The first email goes out within the minute, with the last 30 days of your perimeter: new registrations, changes of officers, moves, capital. Then two morning emails with only what has moved since, as soon as there is something new. No account, no password.
Legal, accounting and fiduciary: law firms, notaries, fiduciaries and auditors. These firms are both targets and referrers: they domicile many companies and are the first to know of new registrations, making them a key sector for any supplier of software, insurance or services to SMEs.
This sector accounts for 2 % of companies classified in the canton of Schaffhausen, against 3 % across Switzerland. No recent registration has been recorded in the canton of Schaffhausen in this scope over the past 90 days.
Schaffhausen is a border industrial canton (mechanical engineering, packaging, automotive) that has attracted international head offices thanks to its tax regime and its position between Zurich and Germany. The register is modest in size, with a high share of industrial and trading companies.
Legal and accounting activities gather 23,195 establishments and 90,633 jobs in Switzerland, alongside the 152,459 jobs of management consulting and head offices. It is a market of very small firms, indispensable to SMEs, and three regulatory shifts (OECD minimum taxation, the revised anti money laundering act, the transparency register) put it in motion in 2026.
NOGA division 69 covers law and notary offices, fiduciary firms, auditors and tax advisers. With 23,195 establishments for 90,633 jobs, average size is below four jobs: the sector is an archipelago of one to ten person practices, topped by the five large audit networks and the business law firms of Zurich and Geneva.
The sector cannot be separated from division 70 (head offices and management consulting), which counts 28,991 establishments and 152,459 jobs. Many fiduciary firms bill bookkeeping, business advice and company administration at once, and the statistical border between the two divisions is porous.
Geography follows the economic fabric and the tax map. Zurich dominates with 4,616 establishments and 24,198 jobs, ahead of Geneva (2,365 and 10,333), Vaud (2,064 and 7,809), Bern (2,043 and 8,591), Ticino (1,527 and 5,570) and Zug (1,033 and 3,577). Relative to population, Zug and Ticino show the highest practice densities in the country.
Growth is modest and very uneven. Division 69 jobs went from 87,518 in 2019 to 90,633 in 2024, about 3.6% over five years, far behind the 17.2% of management consulting (130,065 jobs in 2019, 152,459 in 2024). Ticino is the exception with a clear decline (6,340 jobs in 2019, 5,570 in 2024), a consequence of tighter rules on offshore structures.
Audit consolidation shows in the Federal Audit Oversight Authority figures: the number of licensed audit firms fell to 1,738 in 2024 against 1,926 the previous year, during the licence renewal cycle, while licensed individuals rose to 10,016. Many very small practices give up the licence rather than carry the quality and continuing education requirements.
Three regulatory projects shape demand. OECD minimum taxation applies through the Swiss supplementary tax since 1 January 2024 and the international supplementary tax since 1 January 2025, for groups above EUR 750 million of revenue. Above all, the revised anti money laundering act and the new act on the transparency of legal entities enter into force on 1 October 2026: according to FIDUCIAIRE|SUISSE, some 500,000 legal entities will have to report their beneficial owners.
The audit duty flows from the Code of Obligations: ordinary audit for large and listed companies, limited audit for the rest, with an opting out possibility below ten full time positions. The Federal Audit Oversight Authority licenses and inspects auditors, FINMA supervises regulatory audits, and the Federal Tax Administration governs VAT and withholding tax.
The legal profession falls under the act on the free movement of lawyers and the cantonal registers, with cantonal disciplinary supervision. Fiduciary firms acting as financial intermediaries must join a recognised self regulatory organisation, a requirement the new 2026 regime extends to a wider circle of mandates.
The umbrella bodies are EXPERTsuisse for auditors, tax and fiduciary experts, FIDUCIAIRE|SUISSE for SME fiduciary firms, and the Swiss Bar Association for lawyers, backed by the cantonal bars. They supply continuing education, the Swiss auditing standards and, increasingly, shared digital tools for their members.
Who buys what: practices buy professional software (accounting, payroll, mandate management, electronic signature), archiving and hosting compliant with Swiss law, professional liability cover, recruitment and continuing education. They are also multipliers: one fiduciary firm installs the accounting and invoicing tool at dozens of SME clients.
Signals to watch: the 1 October 2026 deadline triggers a wave of compliance work and self regulatory affiliations, licence renewals published by the oversight authority show which practices drop or take up audit work, and commercial register entries reveal practices acquired by groups.
How ciblr helps: target by canton the establishments with 3 to 19 jobs that form the core of the fiduciary market, where a single partner makes the buying decision, separate law firms from fiduciary firms by combining legal form and company name, and spot new entries to approach a practice before its software stack is frozen.
Of these 135 companies, the dominant legal forms are: Limited liability company (GmbH / Sàrl) (41 %), Public limited company (AG / SA) (33 %), Sole proprietorship (25 %). 19 were entered in the commercial register in 2025 and 2026, that is 14 % of the active base; 13 registrations in 2025. That is well above the average of the three previous years (7 a year): the sector is attracting new entrants.
Share capital is known for 100 companies (74 %): CHF 7 M combined, median company in the 20-100k band; 40 of them (40 %) have capital of at least CHF 100,000.
86 companies (64 %) are VAT-registered, a sign of real activity; 135 (100 %) have at least one registered director; 29 publish a general phone or email, 32 have a website verified by ciblr, and 2 run job postings on Job-Room.
SOGC publications in the last 90 days: 5 changes of directors, 1 other amendments.
135 companies in legal, accounting and fiduciary services are registered with the commercial register as active in the canton of Schaffhausen, or <1 % of the 18 672 companies in the sector across Switzerland.
86 of these companies (64 %) are VAT-registered according to the UID register, which generally indicates turnover above CHF 100 000 and genuine activity.
ciblr gives you three days of watch on this target: the last 30 days of movements within the minute, then two morning emails with what has moved, as soon as there is something new. The subscription at CHF 299 per month gives access to the whole target, with contact details, Excel export and change tracking.
Most recent SOGC publication captured for this canton: 2 days ago. 171 publications captured in the past 30 days. Company officers there are re-read directly in the cantonal commercial register.
Every company counted here is registered with the commercial register (Zefix) with the status "active". The sector is derived from the FSO's NOGA code, the size is estimated by ciblr from official publications (legal form, share capital, declared headcount, VAT registration), and "recent signal" means an SOGC publication (registration, amendment, change of officers, share capital or address) in the past 18 months. The figures are recalculated every week from the ciblr database. No data is purchased or invented.
ciblr sends you three days of watch of companies in legal, accounting and fiduciary services in the canton of Schaffhausen: the last 30 days within the minute, then two morning emails, as soon as the perimeter moves. For the whole target, the subscription is CHF 299 per month, no commitment.
The same figures for neighbouring cantons, useful for regional prospecting.