Beyond the constraints it may present, the transition to electronic invoicing, mandatory from mid-2024 As part of its generalization for domestic transactions between professionals, is a tremendous opportunity for companies. First, it accelerates the digitalization of purchasing chain, procurement and accounts payable, and thus optimize processing: strengthening the transparency and traceability of exchanges, improving productivity and working comfort for employees, facilitating and quickly accessing documents, reducing errors and disputes. "The invoice, because of its mandatory nature, its quasi-standardized format and its key role in the Procure-to-pay process, is particularly concerned by dematerialization," observes Bertrand Gabriel, Director of Development and Strategic Accounts at Acxias. "In connection with the other documents circulating in the company (legal documents, quotes, contracts, orders, delivery and receipt notes, etc.), which are directly or indirectly related to it, it is generally the trigger for a broader digital transformation movement and often initiates a virtuous circle to digitize processes as much as possible."
Electronic invoicing also makes the process more reliable and speeds up processing, and thus meets the payment deadlines agreed with suppliers. As a result, it also helps to reduce the risk of supplier default while improving business relations. "The temporal differences between the payment of charges (salaries, social charges, insurance, overheads, etc.) and the payment of products and services by customers are one of the first causes of bankruptcy of companies in France," explains Bertrand Gabriel, recalling that respecting the payment deadlines of the LME (Law for the modernization of the economy) "it is the law, and not complying can be costly." According to him, however, bad students do not necessarily have bad intentions. "At Our clients, we often find that if the company doesn't pay its suppliers on time, it's not by deliberate choice," he explains. It is rather because of the inability to do so, due to the inadequacy of its Procure-to-pay information systems, the duration and reliability problems of the routing of paper invoices to accounting and the mass of manual activities to be carried out for registration, processing, validation, etc. "
The main advantage of switching to electronic invoicing, however, remains its very advantageous cost compared to paper invoices. According to a Amendment to regulatory texts Dating back to 2015, "studies show that accounting departments spend nearly a third of their time manually entering supplier invoices, and that their dematerialization allows a saving of around 50 to 75% compared to paper processing, for a reduction in processing cost of about 30%". However, it is estimated that 10 to 20 euros are the cost of manually processing an incoming paper invoice, to which are added its storage, archiving and, if necessary, search for consultation, i.e. more than 3 euros on average taking into account direct costs (time spent, storage areas, etc.) and indirect costs (losses, delays caused, etc.). By dematerializing invoices, the overall cost reduction can therefore exceed 50%. Better, "by automating the entire Procure-to-pay process following best practices with a Adapted digital solution, it is possible to multiply the gains and accelerate the return on investment, "adds Bertrand Gabriel.
Full article from The Watch Digital Purchasing : "How to turn the constraint of e-invoicing into an opportunity"