Electronic invoice processing: 7 tips

By now you probably already know how many benefits digital invoice processing offers. Those who process purchase invoices automatically can streamline processes, increase efficiency, reduce costs and free up more time for activities that add greater value to the organization. In short, digital or electronic invoice processing helps you optimize, making your work faster, easier and more enjoyable. Would you like to improve efficiency? In this blog we give you 7 tips to get the most out of digital invoice processing!

1. Ask suppliers for digital invoices

The moment you get started with digital/electronic invoice processing, it is useful to draw up a standard letter for your suppliers. This includes clear instructions on how to send invoices. The goal: to achieve a uniform way of working. Include at least the following points:

You only want to receive digital invoices.
Suppliers can send invoices to your purchase invoice mailbox (if you want to work even faster, have incoming messages preprocessed and sorted by the SMART E-mail handler.
You like to receive one pdf attachment per email.

2. Have invoices provided with specific information

It is also very useful to have suppliers put as much information as possible on the invoice. Think of the general ledger number, the cost centre, the code you send with each order and a precise description of the activities. If this information is standard on a purchase invoice, you can immediately enter it correctly. That saves an enormous amount of time!

3. Work with purchase order numbers as much as possible

If there are multiple products on an invoice, you usually have to manually verify that the billed items were actually ordered. Even when you’ve embraced digital invoice processing, this remains a time-consuming task. But if you order several individual products from one supplier that have unique purchase order numbers associated with them, you can capture these numbers in the system right away – including the corresponding amount. When the invoice comes in, all you have to do is compare it with the information already in your system. That way you work a lot faster.

4. Deploy smart OCR software

Re-typing invoice data is not only time-consuming but also error-prone. Smart OCR software takes this task off your hands by digitally reading what is on an invoice. Using OCR techniques, items such as invoice date, invoice number, VAT amount and creditor are recognized and converted into a reliable posting proposal. In addition, smart OCR software actively detects errors on invoices. In addition, the system automatically becomes smarter. For example, if the software does not immediately recognize the correct value, you can point it out when posting to the digital document and the system will automatically make a correction that it remembers. This makes your digital invoice processing faster and more efficient!

5. Make use of a digital workflow

It often takes several employees within the organization to approve one purchase invoice. You can, of course, mail each invoice around (or, worse, pass it around in hard copy to different desks), but in doing so, you’re causing yourself a lot of extra work. Moreover, it slows down the process enormously. The solution? A digital workflow systemthat ensures that invoices are sent digitally to the right people for approval. Using built-in functions, you can indicate that invoices within a specific category – such as fuel bills – should always be automatically submitted to certain employees. Your colleagues receive a signal when a document is ready for approval. They can give approval via desktop, laptop, tablet or phone, making the process much easier and more accessible. Furthermore, a workflow helps you take digital/electronic invoice processing to the next level because you no longer have to store invoices in paper files. The workflow system also functions as a personal archive. If you want to check an invoice, you can easily look it up in your personal history, an overview of all invoices you have approved.

6. Create a complete data file in your ERP system

Make sure certain standard data about your suppliers is in your financial system, such as the company name, VAT number, IBAN number and Chamber of Commerce number. In other words, get the master data of your creditors completely in order. Then incoming invoices will be flawlessly linked to the correct creditor. This will allow your OCR software and workflow system to do their job optimally. The credo is: the more complete your file, the more reliable the software works and the faster your invoice can be approved!

7. Ask for a waiver of physical retention requirements.

Ask the tax inspector for permission to file your invoices digitally. This is called an “exemption from the physical retention requirement. It’s important to do so, because the IRS has created specific rules for this purpose. These are not always unambiguous in the digital age because they were mostly made when invoicing was still done on paper. Electronic messages and pdf invoices are therefore often not taken into account. Still, you can’t decide this on your own. Therefore, talk to your tax inspector.

Getting started with digital invoice processing?

Do you want to deploy innovative solutions to get the most out of digital invoice processing? Please feel free to contact us. We are happy to discuss the possibilities with you.

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