Why e-invoicing will become the new standard for invoicing and why you should get on board now

1. Why e-invoicing will become the new standard for invoicing and why you should get on board now Centiga - Best Accounting Software Email :info@centiga.co.uk URL: https://centiga.co.uk/

2. For businesses, transactions are the life-blood of their organization and proper record-keeping and billing is crucial. Therefore, they hold the same level of attention for creating and sending the transactional statements that the supplier provides to the customer, i.e., invoices. Recently, e-invoices are more common opportunities that suppliers utilize for their easy usability, less resource wastage, and lack of postage costs. Not to mention, accounting-based Invoicing Software for SMEs and enterprises is reliable and less time-consuming as well. This is because businesses can custom-prepare them using available templates and send them promptly.

4. Customers find e-invoices more efficient as well compared to the traditional manual format. Although a lot of them download the regular invoices and print them out as an authentic document, retaining an e-invoice is more manageable. In the current market, many global businesses are utilizing this method instead of printing and emailing PDF invoices. It is expected to grow more popular in the future. There are many reasons why that is so, and in this article, you would learn more about them.

5. What is e-invoicing? E-invoicing is a version of invoicing that includes the billing data of the product/service quantities, and cost, all in a digital format. Since no use of paper is involved here, this method is comparatively more competent, cost-effective, and simpler to handle. Through electronic software, you can create, process, send, receive, and save an invoice. So, there is no scope for manual tasks like scanning or printing an emailed invoice for physical handling. Moreover, with this software option, you can expect quick reminders of the payments as well via push notifications.

6. E-invoicing vs Email invoicing It is important to note that although e-invoicing and email invoices both use the online route, they are not the same. While the former arrives in the invoice processing software of the customer, the latter comes attached with an email. Surely, the PDF attachment with the email is a valid copy of the company’s sales receipt. They contain all of the necessary invoice details that the software re-formats into a structured e-invoice. Following this, the sender can deliver the e-invoice after getting approval and proper verification. The process of attestation itself is complex for the e-invoices before they reach the buyer. Indeed, multiple parameters are checked first, like the availability of a PO, legality of the details, and legitimacy of the supplier. If any of the confirmation checks come back as negative, the accounting software automatically rejects the e-invoice. Comparatively, this level of scrutiny is not available for the PDF email invoices. Thus, for buyers and suppliers equally, the e-invoicing version is more suitable to adopt.

7. How is OCR connected? OCR or optical character reader technology is effective in the context of invoice automation. While it works mainly with the paper invoicing version, the current technology incorporates digital invoicing as well. Indeed, the OCR technology reads the email-based details and transforms them into the e-invoice format. This requires absolutely no manual labor and the information like bank details and VAT number are clearer. Therefore, since the Best Invoice Software can reconcile the bank account information of the sender and the VAT/gross values, you can expect higher detail accuracy. In the context of fraudulent purchases or transactions, this methodology is safer to depend on as well.

8. Operational overview of e-invoicing E-invoicing and its various technical terms like IDOC, EDIFACT, UBL, and PEPPOL are confusing for beginners to understand. However, in terms of utilizing the service, you do not require an IT and finance background. Indeed, ERP systems and invoicing software are available for brands, both enterprise-level and small-scale, to exercise. With these automated tools, creating e-invoices requires only some simple steps. Through most platforms, the user has to add the buyer’s e-invoicing address or unique number sequence. Here, details like Orgnr, SAP iDoc, or VAT numbers are acceptable. Typically, the customer or client would provide this to the sender beforehand. The invoice processing method occurs at this point before reaching the e-invoicing operator of the customer. Here, a final auditing check transpires before the digital bill passes to the recipient’s invoice processing software. They, in turn, can access the data file using a specified button. Keep in mind that the process can differ slightly for separate platforms. However, most software tools follow these mentioned actions.

9. Benefits of employing e-invoicing standards? There are multiple notable advantages of utilizing e-invoicing methods. Here, users can quickly and receive money from their buyers since the invoice-centric steps complete quicker. Not to mention, costs for printing, sending (e.g., postage), and even storage are non-existent with this practice of invoicing. The workers in the companies can focus on other tasks more seriously instead of learning and practicing their accounting and billing e-invoicing. Not to mention, this software works in an automated manner, with guaranteed security and authenticity. The company gets the details directly into their accounting software, which enhances the supply chain as well.

10. The status of e-invoicing in Europe At the moment, around 42% of the enterprise-level brands utilize e-invoicing using accounting software. Comparatively, SMEs are not using this option at an extensive rate (approximately 22%). To note, in the European countries, 99% of all of the businesses are mainly small-scale and many of them are startups or family-owned. Therefore, the European Union considers the practice of e-invoice exchange and software tool usage as ‘costly’ and ‘complex’ for these users. To note, 75% of the businesses currently still use paper-based invoice options, while 9% use fax and 8% use emails for sending. As for e-invoicing, UK-based statistics show that 4.3% of small business owners use this practice. Yet, there is notable growth in the e-invoice dependency among brands in recent years. Between 2015 and 2019, the number of e-invoices that were transacted doubled in number in Europe. With the advancements in the invoicing standards and changes in the national legislation, Invoicing Software UK is projected to grow even further.

11. Final words Overall, while the usage of e-invoicing practices is available in industries, it will take time for it to spread in popularity globally. With the shifting invoicing standards, VAT compliance advancements, and better anti-fraud features, many companies are switching to e-invoicing. In the future, this count is expected to increase, so you should jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible for better results. If you are looking for reliable invoicing accounting software for SMEs, you should visit Centiga website for further details soon!