Laws set the pace for any industry. The field of automated accounting and invoicing is no exception. The best example of this is that more and more countries are requiring online invoicing, and at the same time, companies are incorporating and using the digital format. But is issuing electronic invoices necessary because it is mandatory or because of the benefits it offers to companies and the business community?
Why is it convenient to issue electronic invoices?
The experience of easyap in projects combining technology and accounting spans more than two decades. During that time, working in multiple environments and with companies from different sectors, we have seen how the issuance of electronic invoices is positive and convenient for many reasons.
Our track record provides us with eleven arguments that go beyond the legal aspect to corroborate this idea. Precisely, those arguments are the benefits of digitizing a process as important as invoicing.
1. Time and cost savings
Electronic invoices eliminate printing, postal mail, and the need to store your documents on paper. These changes translate into significant savings in time and expenses associated to file management, not to mention the cost of having a space to store all those invoices.
2. Increased efficiency and productivity in your business
Issuing electronic invoices automates a tedious yet necessary process in your business: invoicing. In addition, with an automated digital system, you reduce manual errors, thereby improving efficiency and productivity within your company.
3. Improved management of payments and collections
You can send, receive, and manage these types of digital invoices sent, received, and managed instantly. Therefore, by managing payments and collections more quickly and efficiently, the entire process is much faster and more agile than with conventional invoicing.
4. Guarantee of security and privacy
Online invoices are backed by electronic security measures. We are referring, for example, to digital signature. This reduces the risk of fraud, theft, and document forgery, while also better protecting the data of the parties involved in a transaction and maintaining their privacy.
5. Optimizes data management
Issuing electronic invoices allows integrate all billing data into business management systems such as the one we developed at easyap. With it, you will achieve better data management and, as a result, you will be able to make better business decisions.
6. Facilitates compliance with legal and tax requirements
With good software for issuing electronic invoices, you will also you will comply with the legal and tax requirements of your country or region. You will be able to adhere to the invoice formats required by each of the tax authorities to which you are accountable and, as a result, avoid penalties and fines of any kind.
7. Adaptability to invoices in any format
As long as your system gives you the option, you can adapt your online invoices to your customers' requirements. For example, with the easyap solution, you can issue electronic invoices in UBL format, which is very popular, thereby improving customer satisfaction.
8. Improves communication between the company, customers, and suppliers
Precisely because of what we mentioned in the previous point, issuing electronic invoices allows you to maintain more fluid and faster communication with your customers and suppliers. Likewise, this efficiency and agility improves customer service and problem resolution.
9. Reduces human error
It has been proven that, apart from being faster, digital invoicing systems fail less than people. Therefore, we guarantee that good software for issuing electronic invoices will help you reduce human errors: omission of information, duplicate invoices, calculation errors, etc.
10. Reduces environmental impact
In turn, electronic invoices reduce the consumption of paper, ink, and other resources associated with paper invoicing. So by using this new format, you, your business, and your customers are helping to reduce environmental impact.
11. Better monitoring of the entire process
Finally, a portal for issuing electronic invoices keeps track of every step of the operation. This allows both your company and the customer to track invoices more efficiently. This makes it easier for all parties to control and manage invoicing.
Where is the issuance of digital invoices mandatory?
Precisely because of this improved monitoring of invoicing, governments are also advocating for the mandatory issuance of online invoices. This is what they call traceability , and it allows them to monitor much more thoroughly whether or not companies are complying with their tax and fiscal obligations.
Following this idea, it is not surprising that more and more tax authorities are establishing laws requiring the issuance of digital invoices. In Spain, electronic invoicing has been mandatory for any company that has been operating with the Public Administration for years, and in 2023 it will also be mandatory among private companies. However, we are neither pioneers nor the only ones to require it.
To begin with, although legislation on electronic invoicing varies from country to country, the European Union (EU) has established a regulatory framework electronic invoicing depends on each country, the European Union (EU) establishes a regulatory framework. This includes measures to promote electronic invoicing processes in business-to-business transactions. In this regard, there are several common guidelines:
- Directive 2014/55/EU. This directive establishes a European standard for electronic invoicing in public procurement. Since 2019, EU member states must ensure that their public procurement systems are capable of receiving and processing electronic invoices in accordance with this standard.
- European electronic invoicing platform. The European Commission has developed an online platform for electronic invoicing that allows companies to send and receive electronic invoices throughout Europe.
- eIDAS Regulation. This regulation establishes a legal framework for electronic identification and trust services in the EU.
For their part, some countries also have their own laws on electronic invoicing. For example, in Italy, since 2019, the issuance of electronic invoices has been mandatory for all companies that invoice other companies, and in France , this will also be the case from 2023. Meanwhile, in Spain, Denmark, and Portugal , issuing digital invoices is mandatory for any transaction with the public sector.
And if we look outside Europe, we see that electronic invoicing is also a reality. In Mexico , it has been mandatory since 2011 for all taxpayers, and in Brazil (since 2008) and Chile (since 2015), it is mandatory for all companies.
Is easyap the solution to fulfill your obligation, or does it go beyond that?
But why are governments so keen to promote online invoicing and management? The reason, as we said before, is that they also benefit from its advantages: greater efficiency, productivity, accuracy, traceability, etc. All of this translates into time and cost savings, as well as improved customer relations.
This is where we come in, easyap. In addition to all the general advantages of electronic invoicing, our software offers other benefits that are key for any type of company:
– Accessibility and better communication. You and your customers can access invoices anytime, anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection. This feature saves time and increases efficiency and satisfaction for all software users.
– Integration with other systems. Our solution integrates easily with other business management systems, CRM, or ERP. Therefore, we make it easy for you to automate billing processes and information management.
– Security and legal compliance. easyap software complies with all legal regulations regarding electronic invoicing that apply to your business and region. It also guarantees the security and confidentiality of the information contained in your files.
– Adaptability. We implement the software in any type of company, adapting it to your sector and your business and tax needs. Furthermore, the volume of invoicing does not matter, as with easyap you pay for each invoice processed and not a fixed cost.
– Employee expense portal. The easyap solution also has other features that impact your accounting. The employee expense portal is one of them, allowing employees to directly enter per diems, travel expenses, etc.
In short, Easyap's electronic invoicing software offers specific advantages for your business. It is because it provides all of this, and not because it complies with a legal obligation, that we want to give you our contact details. We look forward to getting started with digital transformation of your business.
