“That’s a lot of time SMEs couldbe spending on other activities that’llgrow their business.”MYOB’s modelling showse-invoicing allows SMEs to achievecost savings of A$11,000 every year,by moving away from paper invoicingand through the reduction of manualentry.“We’re delighted to see awarenessof e-invoicing has increasedsignificantly since we last took a‘temperature check’ in January 2021,”Lea says.MYOB found that 64 per cent ofSMEs had heard of e-invoicing whenit conducted its survey in July 2022,compared with 43 per cent from thesurvey at the start of 2021.“Now’s the time to turn thatawareness into action and takeadvantage of this huge cost and timesaving opportunity,” Lea says.A LOGICAL EXTENSIONAlan FitzGerald, founder ofPractice Connections Advisory, is atechnology consultant specialising infinding software solutions, servicesand practices suitable for business taxand accounting.He consults to the accounting sectorand says e-invoicing is now somethingthat most accounting computersystems can readily facilitate.“E-invoicing is a logical extensionof what’s happening in the market,and it will benefit any organisationthat uses it.”For accounting practitioners,FitzGerald says there are manybenefits in helping clients totransition to e-invoicing to reducemanual data entry, increase accuracy,achieve quicker payment times, andto minimise the risk of fraud.“The ATO has calculated that upto A$28 billion can be saved over10 years through the use ofe-invoicing systems.”The ATO has been tasked withmanaging the Peppol network inAustralia as the Australian PeppolAuthority. Although it accredits allaccess point providers, the regulatordoes not view invoice data or operateas a software service provider in thee-invoicing system. It also does notprovide any hardware.“The ATO has calculated that up toA$28 billion can be saved over 10 yearsthrough the use of e-invoicing systems.”ALAN FITZGERALD, PRACTICE CONNECTIONS ADVISORYJohn Delaney, managing directorof Australian-based B2B integrationservice provider MessageXchange,which has partnered with MYOBto provide its ATO-accreditede-invoicing solution, says manybusinesses are yet to make the switchto e-invoicing because they do notfeel they know enough about it.“E-invoicing takes no more thana couple of hours to explore theoptions and get set up.”Delaney says spending some timeto give e-invoicing a try could endup being one of the best businessdecisions a small business can make.FASTER PAYMENTSThe MYOB survey has foundthe top three advantages listed bybusiness respondents when askedwhat they considered to be the mainbenefits of e-invoicing were fasterprocessing (58 per cent), a reductionin administration time (51 per cent),and a reduction in time to payment(44 per cent).Rossel says the ability to receivefaster payments is a major benefitfor businesses using e-invoicing.“The Commonwealth has apayment policy of five days foreligible e-invoices. These fasterpayments are facilitated by cleandata going straight into accountingsystems, and that direct data entryalso facilitates faster payment.”Rossel says the ATO is workingwith government agencies to helpthem apply the five-day paymentintheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 47
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