expert advice: Mark Stockwell | Acting Assistant Commissioner -Digital Partnerships, Planning & Governance | Australian Taxation Office
eInvoicing: The Newest Business Trend on the Market What is eInvoicing?
Businesses throughout Australia are beginning to recover and rebuild after the turmoil of the last two years. Between natural disasters, the pandemic and associated lockdowns, limited travel, supply chain issues and more, businesses in Australia have been doing it tough. However, businesses also have had an opportunity to rethink how they are doing business. For many, survival equalled going digital and it is the goal set by the Australian Digital Strategy – for all business to become digital businesses by 2030. Going digital will help them become more resilient and manage their businesses smarter. eInvoicing is the next important step to shore up your business future.
eInvoicing
> eInvoicing is the standardised way to send and receive invoice data via a secure network. > The exchange is direct between a buyer’s and supplier’s accounting systems, irrespective of what software they are using. > The eInvoice shows up automatically as a bill to be paid in your accounting software. Importantly, businesses still retain control of when invoices are paid as they still need to be approved. What makes eInvoicing possible is the network of service providers that is underpinned by the international eProcurement standard called Peppol. It’s this network and the common eInvoicing standard that allow businesses to exchange invoices with trading partners seamlessly, irrespective of what software or system is being used. In Peppol terms, eInvoicing unlocks interoperability. And that’s eInvoicing in a nutshell. It only works if both the sender and receiver are connected to the Peppol network. Another way to look at this is by comparing eInvoicing to a telecommications network. To make a call, you and the person you’re calling need a provider. You can choose any provider to connect to the network, be it Optus or Telstra, and then you can communicate with anyone, domestically and globally. The same concept applies to eInvoicing. To eInvoice you need to connect to the network and choose a service provider, called an access point, as do your trading partners. eInvoicing supports business transactions, and interactions between businesses and government.
So why eInvoicing? eInvoicing is about helping small business take part in the digital economy. That means it’s easier and cheaper to trade digitally – something that had been costly and driven mainly by large businesses and traditional manual processes. 58 business franchise MAGAZINE
