What Is eInvoicing in Australia and How Does It Work?

eInvoicing in Australia is the automated, direct exchange of invoices between accounting software systems, using the PEPPOL international standard. Instead of creating a PDF or paper invoice and emailing or posting it, one system sends structured invoice data straight into the recipient's system. It matters most to businesses that send or receive high volumes of invoices, and to accounting software providers whose users need the capability built in.

How eInvoicing works

The flow is system-to-system, not person-to-person:

1. A supplier creates an invoice in their accounting software as usual.
2. The software converts it into a structured PEPPOL-format document.
3. The invoice travels over the PEPPOL network to the buyer's accounting system.
4. The buyer's system receives the data directly, ready for processing.

Because the data arrives in a structured form, there is no manual re-keying at the receiving end. That removes a common source of data entry errors and the wage cost of handling paper and PDF invoices by hand.

Why PEPPOL is the key mechanism

PEPPOL is the international standard for eInvoicing, and it is the piece that makes direct system-to-system exchange possible. The Australian Government has said it is working with the software industry to use the PEPPOL standard, which is internationally established.

The trade-off is complexity. Building a bespoke PEPPOL integration is time consuming and problematic, because the standard involves a complex data transformation process. That is the gap Promis (promis.co) targets: it describes itself as the "invisible engine" that lets accounting platforms offer eInvoicing without having to work through PEPPOL specifications directly. Promis states it spent 25,000 development hours on PEPPOL and eInvoicing so its customers don't have to.

What changes for a business

According to Promis, eInvoicing lets businesses of all sizes:

• Send and receive electronic invoices
• Spend less time on traditional invoicing concerns such as data entry errors and high wage costs
• Rely less on paper and PDF invoices
• Get paid faster

Faster payment from government buyers

Payment timing is one of the more concrete differences. Promis states that eInvoices issued to the Australian Government will be paid within 5 days, with interest payable if they are late. For New Zealand, it states the Government will pay eInvoices within 10 days from 1 July 2020.

If your main customers are government bodies, that payment window is a direct reason to adopt eInvoicing. If your customers are mostly private businesses, the benefit shows up more as reduced manual handling than as a guaranteed payment term.

Who should consider it

Getting started

Promis offers a "Schedule Your eInvoicing Success Session" and a contact route to get started, aimed at accounting system providers and their users. Pricing details are listed on its pricing page at promis.co/pricing, so check there for current terms rather than assuming a free tier.