Adoption of e-invoicing slow: paper invoice remains popular

Last year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the Netherlands was already the third "most advanced digital economy" in Europe. This far-reaching digitalization is bringing about a striking contrast in the Accounts Payable departments of Dutch companies, concludes the trend report Digital Transformation Corporate Finance and Procurement 2023. To this end, independent research firm DirectResearch interviewed more than 200 financials and buyers from companies with more than 500 FTEs. It became clear that aon the one hand, e-invoicing is gaining a foothold, while on the other hand, traditional paper invoices are still being stubbornly stuck to. As many as one in five large companies still regularly receives invoices by mail.

More than a third of Dutch corporates have currently embraced e-invoicing, according to inquiries by DirectResearch. These companies regularly receive e-invoices, either directly in the invoice processing program or as XML documents in the mail. Still, 15 percent of large companies say they never receive e-invoices.

Pdf is most popular invoice form

Most invoices still arrive at Accounts Payable via e-mail in the form of a PDF. More than half of large companies always or often receive invoices this way. Furthermore, 22 percent of financials retrieve invoices from an online portal with some regularity, and 17 percent primarily use EDI.  

"One in five businesses still
regularly receives paper invoices"

Perhaps most strikingly, 21 percent of financials still say they often or even always receive paper invoices from their suppliers. Only 11 percent of corporates have said goodbye to paper invoices for good.  

SMEs receiving e-invoices more frequently

If we add the figures for SMEs, we see a discrepancy emerging. On the one hand, medium-sized companies already seem better prepared for the future than corporates, because SMEs use e-invoicing more often than large companies. But on the other hand, paper invoices are also still more common in SMEs.  

In fact, more than half of SMEs say they often or always receive e-invoices directly in their invoice processing system, and a third regularly receive XML documents in the mail. While at the same time, a third of midsize companies also still receive paper invoices often or always. A meager 6 percent of SMEs have completely banned paper invoices.  

Government sets precedent

In short; e-invoicing is gaining a foothold among Dutch companies, but it is still far from commonplace. By the end of 2022, only 10 percent of all invoices in the Netherlands were sent via e-invoicing, Jorden van der Wateren, Coordinator at the Dutch Peppol Authority, explains in an episode of the podcast DigiFinance. He therefore argues that the organic adoption of e-invoicing is "far too slow."  

That while it is already the standard at the central government, for example. It only receives e-invoices from its suppliers. Pdfs, paper invoices or other forms are no longer accepted. So the rigorous example set by the government is only slowly seeping through to Dutch business.  

Benefits of e-invoicing E-invoicing is not yet commonplace in the Netherlands. That while e-invoicing has many advantages , both for the sending and receiving party. Want to know more?   >> Read all about the how and why of e-invoicing

Approve invoices via matching

In addition to how invoices come in, it is of course also interesting to look at how the incoming invoices are subsequently approved. This part of the purchase-to-pay process already seems to be further automated, if we look at the results from the independent survey by DirectResearch.

In fact, at half of companies, invoices are often or always approved automatically via matching. In addition, 53 percent of financials say approval is often or always done manually based on a workflow system. Manual approval based on paper or an e-mail message is rare.  

" Approving invoices is already
more often done automatically."

When we zoom out a bit and look at the full processing of invoices, it becomes clear that there is still much to be gained from automation. Only 1 percent of Accountants Payable departments at corporates receive and process all incoming invoices fully automatically, without manual intervention. 41 percent of financials say more than half of incoming invoices are processed fully automatically. At one-fifth of large companies, fully automated invoice processing does not yet exist.  

Full trend report available for free 

Want to learn more about how corporates have structured their purchase to pay process and the implications for Procurement and Finance? Download the full trend report for free.

In it you will read about, among other things:  

• To what extent does indirect spend pose a problem for Finance and Purchasing? 
• How do purchase orders and invoices come about among Dutch corporates?  
• What trends and developments affect Procurement and Accounts Payable? 

Anoek
van der Riet

Contents Specialist

Anoek writes daily about purchase to pay, order to cash and Robotic Process Automation. She enjoys diving into topics such as e-invoicing, working capital and hyperautomation.