Electronic invoicing

Electronic invoicing (also called e-invoicing or einvoicing) is a form of electronic billing. E-invoicing includes a number of different technologies and entry options and is usually used as an umbrella term to describe any method by which a document is electronically presented from one party to another, either for payment or to present and monitor transactional documents between trade partners to ensure the terms of their trading agreements are being met. These documents can include invoices, purchase orders, debit notes, credit notes, payment terms, payment instructions, and remittance slips.

Purpose

A business's accounts payable department ensures that all invoices from its suppliers are approved, processed, and paid. The main responsibility of the accounts receivable department is to ensure all invoices are created, delivered and subsequently paid by their customers. Processing an invoice includes recording relevant data from the invoice and feeding it into the company's financial or bookkeeping systems. After the feed is accomplished, the invoices go through the company's business process to be paid.

An e-invoice can be defined as structured invoice data issued in electronic data interchange (EDI) or XML formats, possibly using Internet-based web forms. These documents can be exchanged in a number of ways, including as EDI, XML, or CSV files. The company may use imaging software to capture data from PDF or paper invoices and input it into their invoicing system.