E-invoicing continues to grow, very slowly, around the world, e.g. the US has decided to mandate B2G e-invoicing, patchy progress across Europe, and South America develops new standards. The progress is relentless - e-invoicing is coming globally as the cost savings and revenue opportunities are undeniable. The cost savings and revenue generation opportunities are overcoming all sorts of issues and problems.

USA e-invoicing progress

The US Federal Government is the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the US, processing over 19 million invoices each year. Approximately 40% of these invoices are processed using electronic invoicing with the remaining using a mix of electronic and manual processes that provide little visibility to businesses and can result in tax dollars being used for late payment fees rather than to support critical agency missions.

The US Administration has already accelerated payments to small businesses and small business subcontractors. By the start of fiscal 2018, electronic invoice solution providers are to: use the Integrated Award Environment systems, including the System for Award Management, to provide information to contractors and reduce burdens on vendors; and mitigate any risks associated with the use of proprietary or third-party supported systems.

Contractors will be able to submit requests for payments to a central government-wide portal that is also part of a new Office of Management and Budget electronic invoicing initiative. Contractors can submit one invoice even when multiple approvals are required. They can also track the status of invoices without resorting to phone calls or e-mails.

Europe e-invoicing progress

In Portugal, Billentis report that Sonae the biggest non-financial private Group is treating Accounts Payable automation as a benchmark – something which also relevant for many others. Key facts and figures from their initiative include:

• 23,000 suppliers & 28,000 supplier codes
• 3 million invoices received from external suppliers – 90% EDI + 10% OCR (97% EDI on FMCG supplier invoices)
• 83% touchless invoice processing
• 3.4 million purchase orders - 100% EDI using standard messages.

Billentis also reported that the Dutch KPN, which issues over 8 million paperless invoices a month, has fully automated the process.

In UK, the Payment UK trade association has made e-invoicing as part of its strategic plan for payment systems in the UK.

New e-invoicing standards initiative in South America for combating tax evasion

Argentina, Brazil and Mexico and the Inter American Centre of Tax Administration (CIAT) have joined forces in a project to implement electronic invoices in International Trade.

The International Electronic Invoice (Factura Electronica Internacional) - FEI is a digitally signed envelope containing a minimum amount of common information extracted from the original invoice. The idea is to develop a central node that will interact with all of the countries involved. The project will start with participation by Argentina, Brazil and Mexico but aims expand to all countries in CIAT, which comprises all of the countries in South America plus the US and Canada.

Expanding revenue generation opportunities from e-invoicing 

All the main third party supply chain finance platforms - C2FO, Talia, Basware, etc. - are reporting record results and new initiatives, e.g. PrimeRevenue’s integration of dynamic discounting with their SCF and Spend analytics. The card issuers in are Europe reporting increased for the use of business card to improve WCM flows. Indeed, there are revenue geneation opportunities for corporates in all areas of Supply Chain Finance, as C2FO’s classic table shows:

C2FO analysis of strengths and weaknesses of solutions for maximising accounts payable revenues

Source & Copyright©2013 - C2FO Inc.

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CTMfile take: How much revenue generation are you missing out on by not using all of these solutions?