e-Invoicing
The electronic exchange of invoices between the systems of a supplier and a buyer.
How is it solving problems?
Invoice processing is often a manual process and is prone to error due to its paper-based nature. The current invoicing system adds avoidable delay in payment to recipients.
E-Invoicing removes the need to create invoices that are:
- paper-based or PDF
- posted or emailed
- manual processed.
It enables direct transmission of invoices between software systems of the buyer and supplier, preventing lost or delayed invoices. The e-Invoicing specifications ensure data is structured and coherent on both ends of a transaction, even when different software is used.
What are the benefits?
e-InvoicingBasics.co.uk outlines the following benefits for users.
Buyers:
- Reduced costs
- Increased accuracy
- Increased Accounts Payable (AP) productivity
- Faster processing and payment cycles
- Focus on higher value activities
- Enhanced accounts reconciliation
- Improved cash management
- Reduced fraud, duplicates and late payment fees
- Improved dispute handling
- Improved supplier relationships
- Optimised community management
Suppliers:
- Faster payments
- Reduced costs
- Fewer rejected invoices
- Increased productivity
- Enhanced accounts reconciliation
- Improved customer relationships
- Improved cash management
- Alternative finance options
Managers:
- Improved visibility
- Optimised working capital
- Improved compliance
- Improve supplier/customer relationships
- Enhanced IT system optimisation
- Meeting green initiatives
What are the savings?
- estimated to be 70% cheaper to use compared to traditional paper or PDF invoices
- reduced cost associated with manual data entry and error handling
- reduced payment times to businesses, as little as five business days
- improved cashflow, critical to the running of any business.
Roadmap
Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) is an international standard. PEPPOL is a proven approach used in over 32 countries to foster international trade.
Australia and New Zealand (A-NZ) have adopted the PEPPOL framework for e-invoicing. A-NZ has developed local invoice specifications based on the PEPPOL standard.
ATO is a PEPPOL Authority for the Australian Government, and will provide accreditation services for digital service providers.
The NSW Department of Customer Service led the delivery of a joint limited pilot testing the PEPPOL standard in collaboration with the Commonwealth Department of Human Services, ATO, access point vendors and select suppliers.
Between mid-September and end of November 2019, this pilot has tested:
- end-to-end business process testing
- PEPPOL compliant e-Invoicing using A-NZ specifications.
NSW Government will be completing the following by July 2020:
- January to March 2020, we will adopt e-Invoicing and use it with select suppliers to pay real invoices.
- April to June 2020, another NSW Government agency will adopt e-invoicing to increase in the number of suppliers engaged.
- A sector wide adoption plan is being developed to speed-up agency and supplier engagement.
- All artefacts developed by NSW will be loaded onto the NSW Design System.
More information
- ATO provides information about e-invoicing at the federal level.
- Technical details can be found at the ATO developer site.
- For more information about NSW Government progress please contact [email protected] (Program Manager).