New Zealand and Australia have announced a joint intention to adopt the Pan European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) interoperability framework for e-Invoicing.
The PEPPOL framework is currently used for e-Invoicing in 32 countries across Europe, Asia and North America.
According to a recent press release, the Prime Ministers of both countries announced the intention to adopt since e-Invoicing will see them save over NZ$ 30 billion in transaction costs over the first 10 years.
Currently, New Zealand and Australian businesses process around 1.3 billion invoices annually.
As defined, e-Invoicing is the automated direct exchange of invoices between the finance systems of both the buyer and the supplier.
E-Invoicing Benefits
Reportedly, the following are the benefits of e-invoicing for Kiwi businesses:
- Faster and easier
E-Invoicing will save businesses time and money by enabling faster delivery, processing and payment of invoices. Additionally, this supports better cash flow and business growth.
The introduction of e-Invoicing will improve productivity and reduce the costs of doing business for both government and industry.
- Fewer errors
Simple errors from manual inputting have often caused around 40% of invoices to be more than a month overdue for payment.
When e-Invoicing is introduced, businesses will no longer need to create paper-based or PDF invoices that have to be scanned, posted or emailed, and then manually entered into a finance system.
Removing manual handling and the re-keying of information improves data quality and results in fewer incorrect and lost invoices.
To add, removing manual handling improves the billing process, which becomes faster and more accurate, thereby reducing the chance of problems and delays.
- Direct and secure
Apart from the security that e-Invoices are impossible to lose, they increase confidence by minimising the risk of fake or compromised invoices.
The business will receive an immediate notification if an incorrect invoice is sent. It, therefore, allows them to address the issue quickly.
An e-Invoice can be sent directly to a customer’s finance system, even if the two businesses are using different systems.
Because of international standards, these systems will be able to ‘speak’ to each other that will result in fewer errors.
- For every business
E-Invoicing will offer a solution that all businesses will be able to access and benefit from, regardless of the size and the systems currently being used.
Plans and Timeline
In addition, the Prime Ministers have also established the Australia New Zealand Electronic Invoicing Board (ANZEIB).
The Board will set the direction on how e-Invoicing will be rolled out over the next few years. They are expected to meet for the first time in March 2019.
The Australian and New Zealand governments are aiming for a transition to PEPPOL by the end of 2019, with e-Invoicing being available to New Zealand businesses from that time.
