What is e-invoicing (UBL)?

Picture a small wholesaler. Supplier invoices arrive as PDFs in a shared mailbox, and someone keys the details into the accounts package one by one. With e-invoicing the information travels inside the file itself, so the software can read the invoice without anyone copying anything across.

The common file format is UBL, a structured file that carries the customer, the invoice lines, the amounts and the VAT. PEPPOL is the network that moves these files between suppliers and buyers, rather like a shared postal system for invoices. You do not need to know what the file looks like. What matters is that your software and your customer's or supplier's software speak the same language.

Without structured invoices the manual route stays in place: retyping, slips in amounts or bank details, and invoices that sit in a pile because nobody knows who should approve them. Your own sales invoice also costs time when you email a PDF to every customer and then chase to see whether it arrived. On the purchase invoice side, the check against the order comes on top.

What should you look at? First, which of your customers or suppliers ask for a structured format, because that differs by party and by sector. Second, whether your software supports the format for the countries you trade with, not just in general. Third, the content itself: a file that is read in automatically will carry a mistake in the invoice straight into your books.

In warehousing and logistics you will also hear about EDI, the older way for companies to exchange orders and dispatch messages. E-invoicing is the invoice side of the same idea. Which rules apply to your business and your customers is something your bookkeeper or accountant confirms.