Research released today by Xero reveals nearly half of Australian small business owners would likely register for eInvoicing if government agencies and big businesses started sending eInvoices.

Electronic invoicing, or eInvoicing, has been slow to take off in small business Australia. Many businesses have been hesitant to replace tried and testing invoicing practices they’ve been using for years. In fact, almost two-thirds of respondents in the survey of more than 500 Australian small businesses and sole traders weren’t even sure what eInvoicing was.

The research found that the top barriers keeping small business from sending eInvoices are:

• not knowing enough about it
•  feeling as though their existing processes are fine
• not enough of their suppliers are using it

That said, almost half of the respondents (48 per cent) said they would consider registering if high invoicing government agencies such as ASIC, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or state transport agencies sent eInvoices. It also found that 46 per cent of respondents would likely register for eInvoicing if their frequent big business suppliers (eg. Telstra, Officeworks, Woolworths) sent eInvoices directly into their accounting system.

“eInvoicing reduces administration and errors while accelerating payment for Australia’s small businesses, but they need lots of entities on the eInvoicing network to make registering worthwhile,” says Simon Foster, general manager of product eInvoicing at Xero. “This is a terrific opportunity for governments to use the volume of invoices it sends in a way that helps cut red tape, speed up payment times and increase security for small businesses.”

Improve payment times and boost cash flow

When asked what the biggest pain point of manual invoicing is, over one in five small businesses identified the time it takes to get paid as the top issue. Over a quarter also said they often feel stressed about overdue invoices, while 63 per cent of respondents noted they would be more likely to register for eInvoicing if it meant faster payment times.

“While invoice management is key to healthy cash flow, it can be overwhelming for small business owners and sole traders to get on top of,” notes Foster. “eInvoicing allows businesses and government departments to electronically exchange invoices between accounting software systems without the need for manual data entry. This has the potential to facilitate faster payment times, help boost cash flow, and reduce stress for small business owners.”

Australia has committed to the Pan European Public Procurement On-Line framework as the common standard for eInvoices. PEPPOL is an international eProcurement framework that enables the cross-border digital exchange of data and procurement documents. Australia’s adoption of PEPPOL eInvoicing allows small businesses to use their existing software to send and receive eInvoices, while larger businesses will be able to use PEPPOL with existing EDI systems.

ATO eInvoicing week 2022

The ATO believes that the Australian economy could save an estimated $28 billion over ten years based on the 1.2 billion-plus invoices that are exchanged annually.

To help encourage the uptake of eInvoicing in Australia, the ATO is launching eInvoicing week from 15 – 21 August. The week aims to raise awareness and drive adoption of eInvoicing in Australia and give small businesses access to more education, resources and information.

“We know small businesses are time poor, but they have the willingness to adopt new technology,” says Foster. “We hope that eInvoicing week will give small businesses access to subject matter experts so that they can understand the positive impact it could have on their invoicing processes.”

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Now read this:

https://www.kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au/einvoicing-hits-10000-registrants-heres-why-its-a-big-deal-for-small-business/