Anticipate developments in electronic invoicing

The electronic invoice is more than ever a central subject occupying the purchasing departments at the start of the year.

Indeed, the impact of the health crisis has had a strong role in making companies aware of the need to rethink their current mode of operation, particularly in terms of invoicing. In this sense, electronic invoicing is shaping up to be the soon to be unavoidable method of exchanging invoices between companies. However, this electronic management of invoices is still often polyform today and does not necessarily include all the mandatory standards in the fiscal sense (compliance with the directives of the DGFIP) or the guarantees necessary for the conservation and archiving of this document. belonging to the assets of the company.

When the public sector is a source of inspiration

For several years now, to invoice a public body, companies, whatever their size, must necessarily send their invoices via the Chorus Pro platform. This first step having been taken, the legislator wishes, in the long term, to go even further by forcing private companies to use a similar system, the terms and contours of which are still being negotiated in order to transmit their invoices to other private companies. In 2020, the State Financial Informatics Agency and the DGFIP experimented with electronic invoicing between private companies.

The stated objective is the generalization of these practices in the private sector, like the reference framework that Chorus Pro now represents. The outlook until then places a deployment window between 2023 at the earliest and 2025 at the latest; window for which certain operational and normative modalities remain to be defined despite the mobilization of a number of actors, federations and groups actively working on the subject.

Inescapably, companies must prepare and review their billing method to comply with legislation and future standards and conduct their operations in accordance with the rules of the art. This new point is a key element to be taken into account for all companies and more particularly those which have not yet embarked on electronic invoicing. We understand that using platforms and tools that take into account current regulatory requirements, stand by, or co-construct around future decisions is a necessity. There are many players, consultation and choice are proportionately crucial.

Get ahead in your project by incorporating the right bases

Of course, the implementation will be gradual, especially for very small companies which have limited resources and will probably be the last issuers concerned. However, all the companies thus informed must be prepared to put in place these devices so as not to end up at the foot of the wall at the last minute. Be careful, therefore, to rely on an organization and an industrial management process that will allow you to make no mistakes and carry out electronic invoicing operations. It is only on this condition that companies will be able to manage their editing and sending invoices even better. Added to this is the sometimes forgotten interest of ensuring electronic archiving with recognized probative force (through certification, for example) in order to increase the degree of security of these documents archived for ten years. Depending on the cost that this represents, this is an asset that should not be overlooked in addition to the productivity gain already obtained in carrying out operations.

In conclusion, the use of a device whose spirit promises to be similar to going through today’s Chorus Pro portal will position itself as a medium-term obligation for electronic invoicing between professionals. The paper invoice will naturally give way to everything electronic and ultimately relatively short deadlines … So many decisions and elements now proven to justify embracing this subject with seriousness and serenity, especially since the invoice remains the trigger of cash flow paying the charges.