e-Invoicing and e-Billing

There is often confusion between the differences of e-Invoicing and e-Billing.  As the ‘resource’ element of the e-Invoicing blog, this post outlines the key differences.

There are broadly two types of electronic invoicing implementations, e-Invoicing and e-Billing.

e-Invoicing is a buyer-centric model where the Buyer encourages its Suppliers to send electronic invoices. Typically, a Buyer may receive electronic invoices from hundreds or thousands of suppliers.

e-Invoicing is usually an integrated solution whereby the supplier sends data that can be processed directly by the Buyer’s accounting or ERP system (eliminating any manual intervention). Supplier data can be sent via a datafile from the Suppliers billing system or submitted via a web form. Electronic invoices can be sent directly from the Supplier to the Buyer or via a Service Provider. e-Invoicing is the typical regime in the B2B environment.

 

Welcome to The e-Invoicing blog

Welcome to the e-Invoicing blog. I plan for this blog to be a resource for people looking in to the e-Invoicing world. I plan to post comment, opinion and reference material and over time build a glossary of terms used in our industry.

I thought it appropriate that the first post would try to set the scene, describing the environment in which we work.

Firstly what is an electronic invoice?