A growing number of new technological innovations are driving companies to find ways to improve their processes, increase efficiency and reduce costs while adapting to changes in the law.
Benefits of automating the invoice accounting process
One such solution is the use of e-invoicing to automate the process of invoice circulation and the booking of purchase invoices. What specific benefits for businesses does this bring about?
- Lower error risk: E-invoices allow for automated data entry into the accounting system, reducing the risk of human errors associated with manually transcribing data from the invoice. FA(2) schema includes mandatory, optional, and facultative fields, so in the event that a taxpayer makes a mistake or forgets to fill in a mandatory field, the system will reject the invoice, providing an opportunity for correction.
- Automation of invoice accounting: The e-invoicing system enables the use of mechanisms that automatically assign cost centers in accordance with previously defined rules.
- Cost savings: Eliminating the costs associated with printing, delivering, and storing paper invoices (as the legislature exempts the taxpayer from the obligation to store invoices) can result in significant savings.
- Easier document management: E-invoices are stored electronically, making it easier to manage, archive, and search for them. Each structured invoice issued has a unique KSeF number, which can be found in the centralized system. Therefore, KSeF does not allow for duplicate invoices, as there is no technical possibility of losing them.
Automation vs. security
Automation of the workflow process and posting of purchase invoices requires appropriate safeguards, such as security of processed data and protection against unauthorized access. The company’s existing business processes should be carefully analyzed and aligned with mandatory legal requirements resulting from the introduction of KSeF.
The Fa(2) schema, i.e. structured invoice elements, also contains optional additional fields in which you can use abbreviations, descriptions, and strings of characters agreed upon with the contractor to easily categorize invoices according to your needs.
Ensuring data quality will be necessary to align with the formats accepted by the e-invoice schema. The final file sent to KSeF is in the XML format. Since XML is created according to a specific logical structure, providing, for example, a date in an incorrect format (the rule being YYYY-MM-DD) will result in the rejection of the invoice by the system.
IT and technological solutions
There are solutions on the market that help entering data in a more user-friendly excel file format. It is possible to complete and send multiple invoices at the same time, as well as to perform technical and logical tests immediately. This function returns information on whether the data has been entered correctly, and whether there are any irregularities.
There are also solutions on the market that integrate KSeF with systems designed for the circulation of cost invoices and their booking. Together with a friendly interface, invoice division rules and extended search options, process changes to invoice circulation connected to KSeF may be a positive change within a company.
