Tag Archive - European Union

EU eProcurement Framework Agreed

 

In early February, in a further boost to electronic trading across the European Union, the Competitiveness Council created a set of goals designed to promote online trade and electronic invoicing. Meeting in Denmark, various ministers laid out a timeline promoting several web-based trading systems with a view to doubling online sales by 2015.

The push for greater use of business technology is also reflected by attempts to grow online public markets until 2016, and e-Invoicing until at least 2020. The Danish EU presidency presented figures to ministers suggesting that growth of the digital single market would undoubtedly grow European GDP, perhaps by as much as four per cent over the next eight years.

EU eProcurement Framework AgreedThe European Commission recognise that at present digital public procurement markets remain a relatively niche sector of the wider marketplace, but the well documented benefits of switching from manual to digital processing should benefit member states in the long run. Factoring in reductions in manual administration should also help reduce costs and foster a greater degree of competition between suppliers at the point of tender.

During the same meeting, ministers backed the findings of the European Commission publication ‘e-Invoicing: Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe’, which suggests increased adoption of the technology for cross-border e-Invoicing for member states. The report suggests that introduction of e-Invoicing between Eurozone members will significantly improve international supply chains across Europe creating working capital gains in excess of £300 million.

The move towards greater use of eProcurement systems and increased online trading comes in the same week that the European Union legislated for the new Single European Payments Area (SEPA), designed to facilitate easier banking across the region. Although the EU still trails behind several South American countries in their use of e-Procurement and invoicing, these recent changes will finally start to see that change.

 

Sources
http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/file/94290/eu-ministers-set-out-online-billing-and-procurement-plans.html


Posted on March 26, 2012 in Digital Single Market, e-Invoicing, eProcurement, EU, European Union, SEPA by
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EU Sets SEPA Deadline for February 2014

 

SEPA. The 32 member states of the Single Euro Payments Area and two non-members

The 32 member states of the Single Euro Payments Area and two non-members. Source: Wikipedia

In a busy week for The European Union’s law makers, an agreement has finally been put in place to increase the ease with which businesses and consumers can make and receive bank payments across member states. The Single European Payments Area (SEPA) legislation has been agreed and will come into force on February 1st 2014, forcing banks to be more transparent about international payments and eliminate hidden charges.

The changes brought about by SEPA are intended to save around €123 billion in bank charges over six years through cuts in transaction fees billed to businesses within the EU. The major benefit of SEPA however will be the reduction in the number of bank accounts required for a business to trade effectively with the Eurozone to just one.

SEPA will allow companies or individuals to maintain a single bank account in any European country of their choice and make Euro transactions to any other account, anywhere in Europe. Individuals working ‘abroad’ will also benefit as they will no longer be required to open a new bank account in the host country; payments can still be made to their bank at home minimising the problems associated with setting up a new account in a foreign country.

MEPs are also expecting the efficiencies created by SEPA to encourage further use of electronic invoicing across member states. The bulk of the estimated €123 billion in savings is predicted to come from the ease of making and receiving electronic payments coupled with e-invoicing. This will create a more efficient, inter-operable framework.

Technically SEPA has been in force since January 2008, but a low take up has forced legislators’ hands. This latest decision by MEPs ensures that the February 2014 deadline is legally binding.

 

Sources:

http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/file/94302/february-2014-sepa-deadline-set.html


Posted on March 20, 2012 in e-Invoicing, European Union, SEPA, The Single European Payments Area by
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e-Invoicing for SMEs and Lack of Awareness As Key Barrier According to ACCA

 

With over 147,000 members and 424,000 students in 170 countries, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, or ACCA as it is more commonly known, has recently published a report titled ‘A digital agenda for European SMEs.’

This a comprehensive report based on an extensive member survey and presents key findings on the European Commission’s digital agenda for Europe and in particular, in four key areas: cloud computing, e-Invoicing, social lending and e-commerce.

The survey respondents replied to a number of questions that ascertained the barriers or impediments to the uptake of cloud computing, e-Invoicing, social lending and e-commerce. The answers were grouped in the following categories:

  • Too expensiveACCA logo
  • Lack of awareness
  • Lack of support from banks
  • Lack of access to appropriate specialists
  • No need, customers don’t require this
  • Lack of government initiatives
  • Perceived security risk
  • Too complex
  • Lack of government action
  • Lack of access to fast internet
  • Lack of universal platforms

The most notable statistic is that ‘lack of awareness’ is noted as by far the most important barrier to each of the four key areas that the report surveys on.

To quote directly from the report, “The report finds some important gaps in awareness and confidence levels among the SME sector, and calls on the European Commission, member state governments and the IT industry to actively engage with the advisory community if a critical mass of SMEs is going to be reached.”

The findings of the ACCA correlate very closely to Celtrino’s long held views that the lack of awareness needs to be addressed at both a European and governmental level. The European Union, to be fair, has been actively promoting e-Invoicing for some years and there are several projects on the go to help realise a pan-European e-Invoicing landscape.

But nothing raises awareness more than a legal requirement to act in a certain way. To this end, the Fins are leading by example and there is a new requirement for state agencies and institutions to receive only e-Invoices from their suppliers. Considering that close on 50% of the entire European SME base trades with its respective public sectors, the issue of awareness will not be a problem for long in Finland.

This report is a positive addition to the digital business agenda discussion for Europe and adds credence to the Celtrino’s recent white paper ‘Ireland is About to Become a Whole Lot Smarter.’

You can download a copy of the ACCA report here.


Posted on December 29, 2011 in B2G e-invoicing, Cloud Computing, e-Invoicing by
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Global Financial Crisis – The Basis for e-Invoicing Success?

 

Success, Profit, BusinessAs any business owner knows, particularly those in the SME market, securing credit from a bank is nigh on impossible at the moment. Concerns about capitalisation and liquidity are causing banks to keep hold of cash, making loans to businesses extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. As a result wider economic growth is stalled as businesses cannot afford to invest in order to expand. Consequently, companies are being forced to identify efficiencies and costs savings which can potentially free up cash for re-investment, undertaking detailed analysis of financial routines in way that during the “good times” may have been neglected.

These internal reviews are forcing businesses to look ever harder at their own cash flow and the way it is managed. Many have already discovered that the process streamlining available through e-Invoicing has significant benefits, particularly when extended to the wider financial supply chain. The automation of various accounting functions reduces workload whilst maintaining the controls required for low-level financial analysis.

The European Union’s continued promotion of e-Invoicing coupled with similar requirements of many national governments are steadily moving businesses towards electronic invoice presentation and payment anyway, but the global financial instability could be accelerating uptake too. The political drive to increase e-Invoicing should see the concept reach critical mass with SMEs in the next few years and as uptake climbs, so too should use of these platforms in the B2B markets as well as the B2G.

So at a time where literally every penny counts, business decision makers should be following the lead set by the European Union and investigating the potential benefits and savings available through business process automation and outsourcing. e-Invoicing could be one of the ways to ensure business survival and growth despite the apparent obstructions put up banks.


Posted on November 28, 2011 in B2G e-invoicing, Business Process Automation, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, EU, European Union, Supply Chain by
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Cloud computing, e-commerce and how automating your documents can save you big

 

“Supply chains that rely on paper-based purchasing, order and inventory reconciliation, and all-important billing and payments, are prone to error, are going to be subject to delay and query, and require a lot of labour to control (…)” Read on our ‘Battle of supply chains’ post.

 

Cloud computing, e-commerce and how automating your documents can save you big

View more documents from Celtrino


Posted on November 24, 2011 in Business Process Automation, Cloud Computing, e-Invoicing, EDI, European Union by
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EDI – Did You Know?

 

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)DI, or Electronic Data Interchange to give it its full title, has been around as a “standard” since the 1970s, facilitating data transfer between businesses ever since. The idea of providing a strict data structure which would facilitate data transfer between computer systems without involving human intervention, thus reducing the space for human error, was immediately attractive.

Skip forward 30 years and the attraction of automation and reduced intervention remains very attractive. In fact, so attractive that there are currently more than 50 different EDI standards in active use across the European Union.

Why?

The advent of the flexible data interchange markup language XML in the 1990s, immediately allowed business sectors who believed that their market vertical was significantly different to others to create their own EDI standards. The ease of use meant that just about anyone could define and implement their own standard to meet their needs, whether or not something suitable already existed.

Even the European Union got in on the act, creating an EDI standard specifically for short distance sea trips, such as ferry crossings between England and France, as a distinctly separate standard to that in place for long haul shipping.

Problem?

This proliferation of standards is not such a problem for businesses operating solely within a particular sector, but any who supply to multiple industries or sectors will need to implement several different systems to cope with the EDI demands of each customer. Not only is such a system hugely complex to implement and manage, it is seldom cost effective either.

Clearly, pulling out of the market altogether is not an option, but a system which interacts transparently with all required formats without intervention is preferable. A system which requires no on-going maintenance and is hosted externally is even more desirable because of the potential cost savings available.

The future?

The UN and EU have both tasked committees with finding a way to condense their own plethora of competing standards; despite their best efforts they were only able to rationalise 12 different e-invoicing standards into two. Neither committee was able to find a way of bending the standards to meet every need.

The solution clearly lies in finding a system which allows industries, sectors and sub-sectors to continue with their current EDI formats, but which translates electronic invoicing and payment data automatically and transparently into the correct format for both supplier and purchaser. Such a system immediately reduces the burden on businesses looking to trade across industries, reducing their own EDI implementations to just one, externally hosted solution.

 

To find out how Celtrino’s Smart Admin platform could help reduce your EDI implementation complexities, please contact us at +353 1 873 99 02.

 


Posted on November 21, 2011 in e-Invoicing, EDI, EU, European Union by
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EU Digital Agenda Roadshow Reaches Dublin and London

 

Digital Agenda for Europe logoFollowing the success of similar events last year, the EU Digital Agenda for Europe agency are organising a follow-up regional “tour” inviting localised stakeholders to discuss the creation of a true European Digital Single Market. Ministers from both the Irish and British governments as well as EU representatives will participate in a number of sessions to explore the potential solutions to the challenges that this presents.

Despite there being an unfortunate bias towards “digital content creators” on the agenda, certain challenges face any business looking to do business across international borders, from cultural differences to the need for integrated IT supply chain management and invoicing systems. Given this, several question and answer sessions are scheduled, along with opportunities to network with key EU Commissioners and Directors of Policy allowing conference delegates to learn from the experiences of their counterparts in other European countries.

During the morning open discussion and lunchtime sessions, the different approaches to e-Procurement and e-Invoicing used across Europe will also be debated as UK businesses seek to understand the implications of trading electronically with other government bodies and businesses on the continent. Standardisation of systems and platforms will also become essential as the single market concept develops.

The use of hosted services that transcend physical borders and language differences for electronic invoice presentment and payment will also be of keen interest to businesses seeking to expand their European operations. Platforms and services which are locale agnostic and can accept input from any finance system will be essential to the development of a true cross-border, pan-European marketplace.

The Digital Agenda for Europe agency intend to run further local sessions in Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and Birmingham, although there has not yet been any official date announced.

Questions and comment from UK and Irish stakeholders are also being sought via Twitter for presentation during each of the events. More details are available at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/daelocal/item-display.cfm?id=6999


Posted on November 9, 2011 in Digital Agenda for Europe, Digital Single Market, e-Invoicing, EIPP, eProcurement, EU, European Commission, European Union by
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EXPP 2011 Observations

 

Taking place in Barcelona this year, the EXPP Summit drew speakers from across the world to discuss the impact electronic invoice presentation and payment (EIPP) was having on their respective countries. Along with the usual discussions about that status of the market and current trends within EIPP, several in-depth case studies of successful deployments were presented to conference delegates.EXPP Summit logo

Examples given of e-invoicing deployments within South and Central America focused on the need to reduce tax fraud, which has been rampant under previous transactional regimes. Changes in legislation in some countries has seen market uptake reach 90%, whilst all of the nations implementing EIPP have recorded a rapidly growing uptake of the service. Providers of outsourced EIPP services in Latin America have recorded exponential growth and many established European businesses are now trying to penetrate the market.

When the focus was shifted to European EIPP uptake, success was driven by the need to increase business competitiveness, rather than reduce tax fraud. The ability to adapt business transaction methods quickly and to increase efficiency were identified as the driving forces behind e–invoicing deployments. Unlike Latin America, where  the government forces  businesses to interact electronically, European decision makers must be convinced of the cost benefits of EIPP before they will commit to using the technology available.

Unlike Latin America, where many countries have chosen to legislate to enforce e-invoicing, the European Union continues to accord paper and electronic invoices equal status, slowing the uptake of EIPP. However, it was pointed out that many EIPP service providers had misunderstood the EU’s directive which suggests that electronic invoices should be audited in exactly the same way as paper invoices.

And despite the high uptake of e-invoicing in Latin America, businesses are only engaging this way for tax purposes. EIPP has not led to greater supply chain integration as could be expected. Clearly EIPP providers still have some work to do to show companies in the region the benefits of integrating systems for greater efficiency and cost  savings.


Posted on November 4, 2011 in e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, European Union, Supply Chain Integration by
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International e-Invoicing and local VAT rules

 

Electronic invoicing is becoming more and more common in businesses across the world. Despite the enthusiastic uptake however, several so-called electronic data interchange (EDI) standards exist which, when combined with local e-invoicing regulations can cause major problems for suppliers.

One of the largest problems for international e-invoicing is the localised implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) and how it is implemented by a foreign government. In most countries, businesses wishing to import goods are obliged to calculate and pay the correct amount of value added tax. Failure to calculate the correct VAT fee can lead to fines for non-compliance and delays in the shipment and delivery of goods. Presenting invoices in the wrong format can also prevent businesses from reclaiming available VAT rebates, adding further cost to a transaction.

Particularly problematic are countries within the European Union who although encouraged to implement e-invoicing under EU regulations, are also able to implement such directives in almost any way they see fit. Standardisation is therefore impossible as the determination of invoice integrity works on a country-by-country basis.

To deal with such a lack of standards, businesses can choose to adapt their existing in-house systems in the hope that they can cope with the multitude of different e-invoice expectations, or outsource the processing to a third party. Because of the diverse rules across Europe (and South America to some extent too), some companies are choosing to use the services of single country ERP cloud providers.

Such an approach however is far less cost-effective for the supplier who is ideally seeking a single e-invoicing provider who can provide the required interfaces to deal with governments and businesses anywhere in the world. Using a single, integrated solution such as Smart Admin from Celtrino will help to cut the complexity and cost burden placed upon a supplier and allow them to focus on the more important aspects of the transaction, such as manufacture and delivery. Using an outsourced solution, a business should also be able to ensure VAT is paid automatically at the correct point of the transaction and the rebate collected at the appropriate time too.


Posted on October 31, 2011 in European Commission, European Union, Supply Chain Management by
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e-Procurement in the EU

 

As with many technological advances, governments frequently lag behind their private sector citizens. However following a 3 month consultation period, the European Commission has reported “considerable support” for the institution of a mandatory standardised EU-wide e-procurement solution.

In a statement outlining the main findings of the consultation, the EC said: “There is broad support for EU-level action, including the use of legislation, to facilitate the use of standardised e-procurement solutions. A small majority of respondents support the imposition of EU-level requirements to use e-procurement.”

Euro sign on the computer keyboard

Echoing the concerns of private sector implementers of procure-to-pay solutions, 60% of respondents commented that “overcoming inertia and fear” would be the largest barriers to the success of e-procurement deployments, particularly in cross-border situations. Concerns were also raised about the potential for a lack of standards or onerous technical requirements.

The EC is now calling on e-procurement and B2B supply chain management specialists to join an expert group with a view to creating a blueprint for common solutions. The EC is also set to monitor the use of e-purchasing within its member states  to observe and promote best practices.

One of the lessons the public sector has learned in the arena of supply chain automation and e-procurement is that implementations of such systems need be neither complex nor onerous. Outsourcing of procurement processes to specialist providers has proven to be both cost effective and extremely efficient, removing much of the administrative burden associated with e-procurement. Using cloud-based Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems such as Celtrino’s Smart Admin platform, businesses can take advantage of sophisticated data format conversions to deliver Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) information directly into a supplier’s accounting system.

The use of outsourced EDI Managed Services have proven to be of great benefit to private sector businesses by transferring the day to day responsibilities for managing complex data sets and transformations to the service providers, generating cost savings as a direct result. It is therefore feasible for governments to reap similar benefits through use of the same platforms and processes.


Posted on September 21, 2011 in EDI, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, eProcurement, EU, European Commission, European Union by
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