Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, working from home (WFH) suddenly became the only viable option for many companies to ensure business continuity. Most organizations prioritized the adoption of new technologies to increase team collaboration and communication and digitize operations and services.
Fortunately for our customers, the investment in automating their financial processes paid off during this period. Other organizations were not lucky and struggled with compliance with their manual/paper-based processes and government restrictions.
Efficiency
“Best in class” organizations were hardly affected by COVID-19 restrictions due to their high volumes of electronic invoicing exchange. Ardent Partners Benchmarks show that such organizations have reduced their invoicing process costs up to 6 times. Their Accounts Payable departments, supported by Intelligent Automation technologies, complete their invoicing process up to 3 times faster and have four times more invoices that are processed touchless.
One of the main reasons is that ” best-in-class” finance departments are 90% more likely to use e-invoicing solutions for their business.
Compliance
Worldwide trends show an increase in mandatory electronic invoicing. Although e-invoicing was the exception five years ago, it is rare today that the government does not prepare or implement e-invoicing or VAT reporting mandates.
In Latin America, Continuous Transaction Controls (CTC) have been in use since the early 2000s; also, in Europe, CTCs are beginning to find their way.
Continuous Transaction Controls means that B2B, B2G, and B2C invoices and other transactions between organizations are continuously reported to the government. This form of reporting results in a significant decrease in VAT gaps worldwide, so it is not surprising that many countries are accelerating the implementation of CTC.
The near future
Although everybody hopes we will beat the virus soon, many agree that working from home with a digital-first mentality is here to stay. On the other hand, many countries will implement the e-invoicing mandate in the coming years.
Having Efficiency and Compliance as drivers, e-invoicing should (definitely) be included in your Business Strategy.
Choosing the right e-invoicing solution to comply with all mandates is also essential.
Questions about e-invoicing, e-archiving, or Compliance? Do not hesitate to contact our e-invoicing and Compliance expert, Nele Janssens, or your account manager.
Sources:
Ardent Partners: Accounts Payable metrics that matter in 2020.
Sovos 2021 VAT Trends Report.
