Implement digital invoice processing correctly in 10 steps

The need for digitization is now an important aspect for everyone.

In our guide you will now find several reports on how digitization should take place around companies and how many advantages this brings for you.

But almost every 3 question that comes in from our customers relates to the digital implementation of invoice processing. So we decided to take a closer look at this topic.

In the current article, we look a little deeper into information about digital invoice processing. The advantages of digitizing invoices. We will show you how you can implement everything and describe the impact of a successful implementation.

Before we turn to the actual implementation, let's answer the question:

Why is it necessary to digitize invoices and documents in companies?

This is a question that more and more companies are asking: "Do I really have to digitize my accounting"? The answer is yes, you must. Among other things, because the legislature requires it to be so. More and more companies are faced with having to comply with the process documentation.

What do legal regulations require?

Legal regulations require compliance with the requirements regarding the receipt, processing and archiving of all test-relevant incoming documents.

In our current article we show a couple of practical examples. How you can easily solve digitization thanks to PaperOffice DMS. But first we come to the general advantages of digital processing of invoices.

What are the advantages of digitization?

In today's world of home office and digital media, it's still common to see paper bills piled up on shelves and tables.

The main reasons for using paper are that employees find it difficult to accept digitization or to start with it. It lies in the challenges of dealing with change and digitization.

Physical document copy despite digitization

Many people like to keep a physical copy of the documents they work with. But the process of handling paper that has been rehearsed for years also plays a role here.

On the subject of the paperless conversion we have already written a detailed article. Here we explicitly address the topic of digital accounting.

Manually entering the invoice not only means a lot of time, but also hidden high costs. Getting it right can save a lot of time and money.

Key benefits include:

• You can find any invoice in seconds / save time

  Because thanks to the digitization of your documents, you can find all the invoices stored in PaperOffice in a matter of seconds. You no longer have to laboriously leaf through thick folders. By digitizing all invoices in your company, you only need a few clicks to find them in the system.

  This also leads us to the second point:

• You benefit from optimized work / paper savings

  You no longer need space for physical folders. From now on you can archive your invoices in PaperOffice. Reducing paper consumption leads to clean and tidy offices.

• Simplify accounting processes / For example with workflows

  By managing your invoices digitally, you save time and effort. As well as costs for the creation, delivery and processing. Do not make copies for advanced tasks, workflows, and forwarding. Everything runs digitally and is transparent and comprehensible.

  Thanks to the digitization of your invoices, you will no longer miss valuable discount deadlines.

• Set permission for push button access

  Individual access rights to individual documents and folders ensure clear security. You can grant access to individuals or entire departments. Such as accounting.

• Detect contacts automatically

  PaperOffice intelligently recognizes address data in document content. Then logically links the document to your existing contacts. This enables, among other things, the display of all documents for a specific contact with just a few clicks.

• Automated keywording

  PaperOffice supports you with intelligent AI recognition and keywording. In this way, the invoice is searched for the most important document data.

  KI PIA intelligently reads the data out of the document. Then file the document with full keywords. If necessary with your test or automatically in the background.

• Embedding / export function for tax consultants

  You can easily hand over your invoices. With account assignment and keywording. Thanks to the advanced search, you have everything you need for the export. Like all the bills from last month, for example.

  Incl. the folder structure, PDF file, Excel file with all information. As a result, your accountant or accountant can easily import the documentation.

• Fast editing options

  Accounting can be implemented quickly in the future. Not only can you find all documents immediately, you can also edit/classify them directly, for example. All legal requirements are met thanks to audit-proof archiving. Checking and approving is thus child's play.

  The digitization of invoices is unavoidable for several reasons. Many companies are also already convinced that digitization of invoices is the future. This must also be accepted today and now.

  Nevertheless, many still fear that this step will be associated with a lengthy project. Which will be difficult, expensive, risky and destabilizing. The good news is that ultimately, thanks to PaperOffice, this is no longer the case!

What needs to be considered before digitizing invoices?

First of all, it is important not to confuse or reduce digitization to the scanning of incoming invoices. So that they can then get into the workflow process for validation, payment and archiving more easily and quickly. Digitization is much more.

Advantages of OCR text recognition: Thanks to OCR text recognition, many things can be automated. For example with artificial intelligence (AI). In this way, learning functions are becoming more and more powerful and reliable detection algorithms.

Items appearing on the invoice can be immediately identified and extracted from the document. The document is filed and can be made available to the accounting or ERP system.

For example, with digitization, the financial service provider benefits from reliable information in real time when the invoice is received.

We're getting to the real question of this article:

How do I implement invoice processing?

If you manage your invoices with PaperOffice, incoming invoice processing is completely electronic. You will already receive the incoming invoice digitally, i.e. by email or by scanning it. This makes no difference.

Digitize incoming invoices with DropMail, how?

If you already receive your incoming invoices in digital format, we recommend the DropMail module integrated in PaperOffice. This allows you to create a personal DropMail email address in PaperOffice. You only send invoices to them.

All invoices that are sent to your DropMail address as an email attachment are automatically archived in PaperOffice. With definable filing rules and no work.

PaperOffice recognizes the invoice and reads out the relevant data. The software then files the invoice in the appropriate folder. Thanks to the intelligent AI, further approval processes, tasks and workflows are optionally started.

All employees who are to be involved in the process are informed. The invoice workflow runs automatically.

Step-by-step digital invoice processing:

Invoice receipt

Simply create your desired address in the format "meine_rechnungen@paperoffice.com", specify a storage mask or activate PIA and that's it!

Digital invoice processing

PaperOffice automatically captures the invoice and starts processing

Defined filing rules are executed. Audit-proof archiving takes place automatically in the background according to plan.

You can check the invoice, approve it and run workflows.

Forward

Export the invoices to the tax advisor or third-party systems with relevant information.

What does the future of invoice digitization look like. Where is the journey going?

First of all, the digitization of invoices brings significant and immediate increases in productivity. Digitization not only frees employees from a time-consuming, dense operational task. Besides, problems of delay and dispute due to manual error will be solved.

Inherent costs for storing, searching and losing important paper documents are drastically reduced. In addition, the rationalization and automation of the validation and control processes in the entire accounts payable process.

From purchase request to payment, multiply these benefits even further.

What does a company achieve thanks to digitization?

Through digitization, the company manages to free up important human and financial resources. Be it to absorb the growth of activity with constant resources. Or to mobilize your teams in transformation projects. For employees, the digitization of invoices is not an enemy. On the contrary – the ally. These make their work more interesting and create added value for the company's financial management.

Can paper be destroyed after digitization?

First of all, it is very important to note that the factors for digital archiving of documents must be observed. According to the GoBD, paper documents may be destroyed. Unless they have to be kept in the original in accordance with foreign tax or tax regulations.

This includes, for example, opening balance sheets and building law documents. The GoBD also says that the paper documents should be withdrawn from further processing. Also, the file may not be changed after the scanning process.

Revision-proof according to GoBD-compliant versioning

Which is given at any time thanks to the versioning in PaperOffice. The document must be accessible and evaluable for the duration of the retention period.

PaperOffice thus meets all required standards through certification and testing of all software requirements according to GOBD.

Retention period

The question of the retention period comes up again and again with our customers. Because there are no clear instructions on how and whether the original invoice should be kept. First of all, you should contact your responsible tax authority, i.e. the responsible auditor.

What documents are accepted?

Documents with legal relevance, such as contracts, are still required to be retained in the original.

To get to the point:

The tax office accepts electronic receipts. The court in case of dispute only originals.

This has to do with the fact that a signature can only be checked for authenticity on original documents. We recommend never throwing away Original.

It turns out that you need to consider several aspects to successfully process incoming invoices.

Let's summarize:

In order to completely banish paper from the process, you have to implement a continuous digitization of all incoming invoices. Improvements come from automating the process as much as possible.

Such a digital document has a bundle of advantages for the company. Tailor-made software ensures significantly more productivity in the company.

So, digitizing invoices is an important step in transforming your business into a paperless office. It saves time and labor. Increases the quality of your work results.

Use all the advantages of a paperless office.

Be sure to avoid this error

While large companies have long appointed digitization officers who deal with the topic of converting analog documents full-time, small and medium-sized companies usually lack human resources, especially since appropriate professional qualifications are required.
However, this is a common mistake and leads to bad investments, because many manufacturers take advantage of this ignorance.