Posted by Link4 Team on 15/12/2020
eInvoicing has continued to grow and provide businesses with a better solution to their invoicing needs. In Australia, the government has recognised the benefits of eInvoicing, giving rise and discussion to mandatory dates to onboard more businesses to use eInvoicing.
In an Accountants Daily article (link: https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/15099-big-four-backs-eInvoicing-push, PwC partner Brady Denver believes there is a strong case for eInvoicing.
“Adopting a universal eInvoicing standard like Peppol delivers significant benefits for the economy because it embeds identity and security controls, thereby reducing the risk of fraud,” said Mr Denver.
“An additional benefit to adopting eInvoicing is that it presents an opportunity for businesses to simultaneously review and upgrade controls in their payments cycle, including fraud and cyber controls.”
The security measures eInvoicing has in place have been recognised to help reduce the number of businesses being scammed. In the past year, $5.3 million was reported to be lost to email scams, with small businesses being targeted the most as stated in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Targeting Scams report.
“Scammers intercept legitimate invoices and change the details to include fraudulent payment information. The recipient will pay the invoice as normal and not realise they have been scammed,” said ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh.
It is these security measures with eInvoicing which has captured attention as it reduces fraud, making invoicing safer, while also being cost-effective, digital, faster, more convenient and providing a boost to cash flow. For large government departments, eInvoicing will be mandatory by July 1st 2021 and for remaining agencies by July 2022, as part of the 2020-21 Budget Plan. Mandating eInvoicing for all businesses is still being discussed.