Have you ever experienced an invoice getting lost in an email system, or maybe even getting stuck in the Spam folder?
Or maybe your suppliers’ invoices contain many line items, and you need to input each line into your accounting system? (And sometimes there may be data entry errors?)
Perhaps you may even have been a victim of invoice fraud, with the fraudster changing the payment details to their own?
eInvoicing will make all those issues a thing of the past for business-to-business transactions. Think: less admin, less data entry errors, quicker payment, enhanced security, and improved cashflow.
What is eInvoicing?
You may already think you’re doing eInvoicing because you email PDFs of your invoice to clients; but that’s not what eInvoicing is.
Rather, eInvoicing is a digital exchange of invoice information in business-to-business transactions that works across different accounting systems. It’s already being used overseas: the magic behind eInvoicing is an international standard called Peppol. And it means that invoice information goes straight to your customer’s accounting system via the eInvoicing network.
What are the benefits of eInvoicing?
- Faster payment: eInvoicing means that you don’t need to create PDF or paper-based invoices that need to be printed, mailed, or emailed. That means less admin, cost savings, and no more lost invoices. The instant nature of eInvoicing means you might even get paid sooner.
- Less admin: No more re-keying or scanning invoices – everything is entered into your accounting system automatically. The time savings for some businesses will be immense, especially in the trades, construction, and manufacturing sectors.
- Secure: It’s impossible to lose eInvoices, or for them to be intercepted, which lessens the risk of fake or compromised invoices.
- Enhanced financial management: The instant nature of eInvoicing and the level of detail in the invoices allows for improved reporting, analysis, forecasting, budgeting, and planning. Your Finance Director or management accountant will be enthralled and ecstatic about all the extra number crunching they can do! And for you, it means more confidence in decision making and planning.
- Suitable for businesses of all sizes: All businesses can benefit from eInvoicing, all you need is compatible software and a New Zealand Business Number (NZBN).
How to get started with eInvoicing?
- Check that your accounting software is on the list of eInvoicing enabled providers. Click here to check...
- Get your eInvoicing enabled: how this is done depends on your accounting software, so speak to your bookkeeper, accountant, or software provider.
- Input your NZ Business Number.
- Gather your customers’ NZBNs.
- Let your suppliers know that you’d like to be eInvoiced, and provide them with your NZBN.
- Start eInvoicing!
Next step
Contact Empower Business for a free one-hour consultation: whether you need help with eInvoicing, or other ways to run your business more efficiently – we can help you.
