How to support suppliers with eInvoicing
It is vital for buyers to encourage and support their suppliers, and work with them to send eInvoices that can be processed efficiently and paid on time, if not faster.
Some ways to help suppliers include:
- Share the Department of Finance’s Selling to Government – Getting paidExternal Link information. Then be ready to explain the Supplier Pay on-Time or Pay Interest PolicyExternal Link (RMG 417).
- Become familiar with commonly used eInvoicing-ready sending solutionsExternal Link, to understand what data fields your suppliers can and can't use. If information you need can't be correctly entered, talk to your suppliers about where they can put it. For example, the only option for some suppliers may be to enter the required purchase order (PO) number in the Buyer Reference field with a ‘PO:’ prefix.
- Be ready to share with your suppliers the guidance material from their eInvoicing-ready solution providers, such as what eInvoicing is, how to register or how to send eInvoices.
Example: supplier support
Agency C is an early adopter of eInvoicing. Prior to adopting eInvoicing, the agency asked all suppliers to send their invoices by email directly to a central email address.
As part of its supplier onboarding strategy, the agency engaged with selected suppliers to identify their eInvoicing enabled (accounting) system, then drafted guidance on how to send eInvoices using those systems. This helped suppliers to overcome any issues.
They published these guidance materials to their website and added links to it to their PO template so all suppliers could be informed.
As a result, the agency now processes more than 80 eInvoices a month.
End of exampleTargeting suppliers with eInvoicing capability
Most major small business accounting software solutions can send and receive eInvoices, including:
- Xero
- MYOB
- Reckon.
You can find products that have demonstrated capability to send or receive a valid invoice through an Accredited Australian Peppol Service Provider and register a business onto the Peppol network on the eInvoicing Ready product register | ATO Software DevelopersExternal Link.
You can identify which of your suppliers are using one of these products. See Supplier onboarding tips for tips on how to do this and how to help them start sending eInvoices.
It is crucial that your suppliers strictly follow their software providers’ guidance on how to enter the reference number(s) you need. This will ensure the information is:
- transmitted through the network correctly.
- received by your software and put into the correct field.