In the digital age, electronic invoice management process not only is it a legal requirement, but it is also the core foundation for effective spending control. From How to issue electronic invoice regulations, to the storage, adjustment or cancellation of electronic invoices when there are errors, all of which directly affect the cost management process. This article will analyze in detail the How to manage electronic invoices effective, helping businesses optimize comprehensive financial and accounting processes.
1. What is an electronic invoice and why is it important in cost management?
Understand the concept and role of How to manage electronic invoices is the first step for a business to operate transparently, professionally and especially to control costs well.
1.1. What is an electronic invoice?
An electronic invoice is an accounting document presented in the form of electronic data, created, recorded, sent and stored electronically by organizations and individuals selling goods or providing services. This form of invoice has the same legal value as a paper invoice but is superior in terms of convenience, processing speed and storage capacity.
According to current regulations in Decree 123/2020/ND-CP and Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC, electronic invoices are divided into two main types:
- Electronic invoice with tax authority code: It is an invoice that is given an authentication code by the tax authority before the business sends it to the buyer.
- Electronic invoices without tax authority codes: Applicable to businesses in specific fields (electricity, petroleum, telecommunications, etc.) and are responsible for their own invoice data.
All electronic invoices must comply with the XML data format as prescribed by the General Department of Taxation to ensure consistency and interoperability.
1.2. Why is electronic invoice management important?
One How to manage electronic invoices Efficiency not only helps businesses comply with the law but is also the key to optimizing financial processes. Specifically:
- Platform to business cost management: Each input invoice represents an expense. Electronic invoice management process Accurate and focused accounting helps businesses have an overview and transparency of all expenses, thereby making decisions on budget allocation and cutting unnecessary costs.
- Ensuring legality and transparency: Storing invoices securely and systematically makes it easy to look up, reconcile and avoid the risk of loss or counterfeiting.
- Optimize time and resources: Automating preparation, submission, and filing significantly reduces manual processing time, allowing accounting teams to focus on strategic financial analysis.
- Support accurate tax declaration: Data is synchronized and synthesized quickly, minimizing errors when preparing VAT reports.
- Improve audit efficiency: Data is retrieved instantly, effectively serving tax inspection, audit and internal audit work.
2. Latest legal regulations on electronic invoice management
Management and use electronic invoices must strictly comply with the provisions of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP and Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC, replacing old regulations such as Decree 119/2018/ND-CP.
2.1. Regulations on electronic invoicing
Enterprises are required to issue electronic invoices for all transactions of selling goods and providing services, including promotional goods, gifts, and internal consumption. The main principles include:
- Time of establishment: Must be established at the time of transfer of ownership, right to use goods or at the time of completion of service provision.
- Format: Invoices must be created in the standard XML data format prescribed by the General Department of Taxation.
- Required content: Must have full information of seller, buyer, name of goods/services, unit price, total amount, tax rate, valid digital signature and tax authority code (if any).
- Principle: Do not create false records, must accurately reflect economic transactions that have occurred and have been registered for use with the tax authority.
2.2. Regulations on preserving and storing electronic invoices
Storing electronic invoices must ensure safety, security, integrity and availability throughout the storage period.
- Storage period: Minimum 10 years as prescribed in Article 41, Law on Accounting 2015.
- Storage format: Save by electronic means (server, cloud…), ensuring the original XML file is not changed and can be accessed and printed when needed.
- Integrity & Security: The storage system must be protected from unauthorized access, ensuring that data is not modified.
- Ready to search: Must be able to be retrieved quickly to serve the needs of tax authorities and stakeholders.
In addition, when errors are detected, businesses must follow the correct procedures. Correcting incorrect electronic invoices or proceed to cancel the electronic invoice according to the provisions of Decree 123.
3. Standard input electronic invoice management process
A process input invoice management Tight accounting not only ensures accurate VAT deductions but is also the first step in controlling payables.
- Step 1: Receive invoice: Receive electronic invoices from suppliers via email or portal.
- Step 2: Check validity and legality: Verify information on invoice (tax code, company name, address), check supplier's operating status on the General Department of Taxation portal and compare with digital signature.
- Step 3: Compare with related documents: Match invoice information with contracts, purchase orders (POs), and delivery notes (GRNs) to ensure appropriateness of expenses.
- Step 4: Record and initiate payment: Enter invoices into accounting software or ERP, classify expenses. This is an important step to optimize Accounts Payable Management Process and plan payments to suppliers.
- Step 5: Storage and tax declaration: Store the original XML file as prescribed and include the invoice in the VAT declaration of the corresponding period.
4. Compare the How to manage electronic invoices popular
Businesses can choose between manual methods and using specialized software. This choice directly affects the ability to control costs and work efficiency.
| Method | Advantage | Disadvantages | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual (Email, Folder, Excel) | – Low cost, no initial investment required. – Easy to deploy, familiar with accounting. |
– Time consuming data entry, prone to errors. – Lack of real-time cost overview. – Difficult to look up and check when the quantity is large. – High risk of fraud and overspending. |
Micro enterprises and business households have very few invoices (less than 50 invoices/month). |
| Specialized software | – Automate processes, save 80% time. – Provides intuitive cost tracking dashboard. – Centralized storage, safe, easy to look up. – Seamless integration with billing and accounting processes. |
– Cost of investment or annual maintenance fee. – It takes time for staff to get acquainted and trained. |
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and above, wanting to tightly control costs and automate financial processes. |
5. Common mistakes when managing electronic invoices and how to fix them
Apply How to manage electronic invoices Incorrect entries not only pose tax risks, but also distort expense data. Here are common errors and solutions:
- Error 1: Not saving original XML file: Saving only PDF files or printed copies has no legal value, making it difficult to settle and audit costs.
- How to fix: Always ask your supplier to include an XML file and use a secure, centralized storage system.
- Error 2: Incorrect tax period declaration or duplicate declaration: Manual data entry can easily lead to errors, distorting each period's cost reports, affecting financial analysis and forecasting.
- How to fix: Use software that has duplicate invoice warning features and automatically suggests declaration periods.
- Error 3: Not checking the supplier's operating status: Recording invoices from risky businesses will result in unacceptable expenses, causing losses to the company.
- How to fix: Automate supplier status checks through software integrated with the General Department of Taxation portal.
- Error 4: Handling incorrect invoices not in accordance with regulations: Voluntary Adjust or cancel electronic invoice Not following the correct procedure, complicating the reconciliation of debts and expenses later.
- How to fix: Understand error handling procedures and use software to ensure adjusting entries are made correctly.
6. Criteria for choosing optimal electronic invoice management software
For invoice management to truly become a cost control tool, businesses need to choose software based on the following criteria:
- Compliance with the law: The software must be assessed and licensed by the General Department of Taxation, ensuring it is always updated with the latest regulations.
- Comprehensive invoice processing features: Support management of both input and output invoices, automatic validity check, smart reconciliation and secure storage.
- Scalability to cost management: The solution should not stop at invoices but should be able to integrate or expand to manage payment requests, advances, and business expenses, helping to create a unified expense management process.
- Integration capabilities: Ability to connect smoothly via API with accounting software (MISA, FAST, Bravo) and ERP systems (SAP, Oracle) that the business is using.
- Security and storage: Committed to storing invoices for at least 10 years on a secure cloud platform, with clear backup and access permission mechanisms.
- Supplier reputation: Priority is given to units with implementation experience, highly appreciated by the market for stability and efficiency.
7. Bizzi – Automation solution from invoice to payment
Bizzi not only offers a How to manage electronic invoices efficiency while providing a comprehensive expense management platform. Bizzi's solution helps businesses automate the entire process from receiving invoices to completing payments, thoroughly solving the challenges in controlling expenses.
Automatic processing and reconciliation of input invoices (IPA + 3-way matching)
Bizzi Bot, applying RPA and AI technology, automates the entire input invoice processing process, creating the premise for accurate cost management:
- Automatic data collection & extraction: Automatically download invoices from email, extract 100% of data accurately, completely eliminate manual data entry.
- Check and verify: Automatically check the validity, legality, and status of suppliers on the tax authority system.
- 3-way reconciliation: Automatically reconcile invoices with Purchase Orders (POs) and Warehouse Receipt Notes (GRNs), ensuring businesses only pay for what has been ordered and received.
- Integration and payment: The processed data will be seamlessly synchronized into the accounting/ERP software. From there, businesses can easily automate payment process, helping to optimize cash flow and maintain good relationships with suppliers.
Expanding the cost management ecosystem
With Bizzi, invoice management is just the starting point. Businesses can easily expand to other solutions within the same ecosystem to manage all expenses, from expense management (Bizzi Travel), corporate card expense management (Bizzi Card), to debt management and collection (Bizzi ARM).
8. Conclusion
How to manage electronic invoices Efficiency is vital, not only for compliance but also for building a solid foundation for business expense management. Moving from manual methods to automated solutions like Bizzi will help businesses save time, reduce risk, and most importantly, gain accurate, real-time expense data to make strategic business decisions.
