e-Invoicing mandated for all Commonwealth agencies
As part of the government’s $800 million plan to help businesses further take advantages of digital technologies, the Morrison Government has announced that e-Invoicing will be mandated for all Commonwealth agencies by July 1, 2022. Two big goals are being sought; to facilitate business and to crack down on fraud. e-Invoicing delivers on both fronts.
Highlighting e-Invoicing as a key plank in his digital plan, Morrison clearly understands the productivity gains that e-Invoicing would deliver to Australia. e-Invoicing’s increased levels of security add a strong layer of fraud prevention that has never been so critical than in the current climate of heightened security awareness. In addition to the productivity and security benefits for Government this announcement will make it easier and more cost effective for the governments’ private sector suppliers to get paid.
Only $3.6 million has been initially pledged towards e-Invoicing due to the large amount of work the government has already undertaken to this point to establish enablement pathways for Government Agencies. The key takeaway here is the shift to a mandate and what that means, not only for Government agencies but also for the suppliers to Government who will need to connect to the Peppol network in order send in their invoices.
These suppliers, who number in the hundreds of thousands, will benefit from e-Invoicing being a far cheaper, more secure and more reliable technology which will also get them paid faster. Back in December last year the Government announced that from January 2020 all e-Invoices to the Australian government will be paid within five days of receipt. However, these suppliers will need software that is e-Invoicing enabled. Therefore, today’s announcement will also drive the software industry to integrate with accredited access points to ensure they are able to offer their customers the ability to start e-Invoicing as soon as possible.
As one of the first accredited access points in both Australia and New Zealand, OZEDI applaud the vision displayed by the Government with today’s announcement and stand ready willing and able to assist companies that want to integrate an e-Invoicing capability into their business. It has long been clear that a nation such as Australia needs to leverage the smart use of technology and digital automation in order to boost productivity if we are to remain internationally competitive. Today’s e-Invoicing mandate is a big step towards achieving that goal and building the digital economy of the future.
