Electronic invoicing provides great benefits both to the issuer and to the recipient. Although it may seem that recipients benefit more, the adoption of e-invoicing represents a great advance in the management of invoices from both sides. The investment in e-invoicing systems is very profitable and can be the first step to complete digitalization of a business, a fundamental move to guarantee its competitiveness.
Before discussing its benefits, a quick overview of what exactly is an electronic invoice. The e-invoice is equivalent to a paper invoice, having the same legal value. To be considered “electronic”, an invoice must:
- Be constructed in a standard electronic format: EDIFACT, FACTURAE, XML, X12, etc.
- Be transmitted electronically: it must be sent from and received by computers.
- Comply with standards of integrity and authenticity. For this reason, e-invoices are subject to different electronic signature procedures.
Source: Edicom
