What is the difference between a PDF invoice and a Peppol eInvoice?
- 11/03/2022
- Posted by: David Watters
- Category: Best Practices, Peppol
What’s the difference between a PDF invoice and a Peppol eInvoice? Isn’t a PDF invoice an eInvoice? It’s a question we get a lot, so our team of eInvoicing experts pulled together a detailed breakdown of the differences between PDF invoices and Peppol eInvoices considering a wide range of areas including:
- How is the invoice data captured when it is received?
- How accurate is the data captured off the invoice?
- How structured is the data that is being captured?
- How eco-friendly is it?
- What is the risk of falling victim to invoice fraud?
- How many companies can use this method?
- How complex is this to implement and run?
- What are the costs like to set this up?
- What are the costs like to maintain this option?
- What is the risk of losing invoices?
- What is the risk of paying invoices late through this option?
- How much does each invoice cost you to process?
Data Entry
Semi-Automated
Some providers utilise OCR to capture data from PDF invoices.
VS
Automated
Data is integrated directly from the suppliers systems to the buyers
Accuracy
Low
Manually entered data is prone to error and OCR accuracy is usually below 80%
VS
High
Direct exchange of structured data from system to system.
Data Structure
Semi-structured
As some of the data is captured off the invoice there is some structure to the data but accuracy is a challenge
VS
Structured
Standard BIS 3.0 format
Sustainability
Good
Emailing invoices is far more sustainable than paper invoicing.
VS
Great
Direct transfer of invoice data is far more sustainable than paper and post invoicing.
Risk of Fraud
High
Invoices can easily be intercepted and manipulated before being received by the organisation.
VS
Low
Peppol security standards ensure the buyer and sender are legitimate.
Reach
High
Can be sent to anyone with an email address.
VS
High
Buyers and suppliers can trade openly with anyone in the network.
Complexity
Low
Straightforward but inefficient process to run.
VS
Medium
Peppol network is completely standardised making it easy to work with once setup.
Setup Costs
Low
Very little infrastructure required to send or receive invoices.
VS
Low
The initial setup costs can be scaled across all the suppliers within the Peppol network.
Maintenance Costs
Low
Minimal infrastructure to maintain to send or receive invoices.
VS
Medium
Universal standards ensure maintenance is straightforward. You connect once, you connect to all suppliers in the network.
Risk of Losing Invoices
High
PDF invoices can be missed in the someone’s email inbox or accidentally deleted
VS
Low
Data is transferred directly into the buyers system so the risk is very low
Risk of Late Payments
High
Due to manual processes involved, the processing times for PDF invoices can be longer increasing the risk of late payments
VS
Low
Due to the automated processes involved, processing times for Peppol invoices are faster, reducing the risk of late payments.
Processing Cost Per Invoice
~$27 AUD
VS
~$9 AUD
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