Electronic Invoice Management (EIM) is the digital process of handling invoices from creation and delivery to approval and payment. EIM automates traditionally manual tasks, improves accuracy, reduces processing time, and enhances visibility across the accounts receivable cycle.
Electronic Invoice Management (EIM) digitizes the entire accounts receivable process—from creating and sending invoices to customers, to payment tracking and reconciliation. It automates invoice generation, delivery via email or portals, and uses OCR and validation tools to ensure accuracy.
Workflow automation routes invoices for internal review and approvals if required, accelerating collections and improving cash flow visibility. EIM integrates with ERP and accounting systems, enabling real-time monitoring of outstanding payments and supporting customer collaboration.
Electronic Invoice Management (EIM) automates and digitizes each step, from invoice creation to payment collection. Here’s how it typically works:
The process begins with generating an invoice digitally based on sales orders or service agreements. The system formats and sends invoices automatically via email, customer portals, or electronic data interchange (EDI), ensuring timely and accurate delivery.
EIM platforms capture key invoice details—such as invoice number, customer information, amounts, due dates, and terms—either from the generated invoice or incoming payment notifications, using OCR and intelligent data extraction technologies.
The system cross-checks invoice data against contracts, sales orders, or credit terms to verify accuracy and confirm that the billing aligns with agreed-upon conditions. This reduces billing errors and customer disputes.
If internal review is required, invoices are routed through automated approval workflows to ensure compliance with company policies. Customers may also have access to review invoices via portals, enhancing transparency and trust.
Once invoices are sent, the system tracks payment status in real time. Automated reminders and follow-ups are generated for overdue invoices to accelerate collections and improve cash flow.
Throughout the AR process, EIM maintains a detailed audit trail of invoices sent, approvals, payment status, and communications. This helps ensure compliance with financial regulations and simplifies audit processes.
Dashboards provide finance teams with up-to-date views of outstanding invoices, aging reports, and payment trends, enabling better forecasting and strategic decision-making.
Managing invoices in accounts receivable maintains healthy cash flow and customer relationships. The method you choose, traditional paper-based or electronic invoicing, can greatly affect your efficiency, accuracy, and collections. Let’s explore the key differences:
Traditional: Manually creating, printing, and mailing invoices to customers is slow and labor-intensive. Tracking whether invoices were received or paid can take days or even weeks, delaying cash inflows.
Electronic: Electronic Invoice Management automates invoice generation and delivery digitally via email or portals, speeding up the billing cycle from days to minutes.
Traditional: Manual data entry and paper invoices increase risks of errors such as incorrect amounts, missing information, or lost documents, leading to payment disputes or delays.
Electronic: EIM automatically populates invoice data and validates it against sales orders or contracts, minimizing mistakes and reducing disputes with customers.
Traditional: Paper invoices require printing, postage, and storage costs, as well as significant staff time for preparation and follow-up—adding up to high overhead.
Electronic: EIM cuts these costs, as it eliminates paper and postage, automates repetitive tasks, and frees staff to focus on higher-value activities.
Traditional: Tracking invoice status is difficult without digital tools. It’s hard to know when customers receive invoices or where payments stand, making cash flow forecasting unreliable.
Electronic: Electronic systems offer real-time dashboards showing sent invoices, pending payments, and overdue accounts, improving collection efforts and cash flow management.
Traditional: Physical storage and manual recordkeeping make audits time-consuming and error-prone, increasing compliance risks.
Electronic: EIM maintains detailed digital records and audit trails, simplifying compliance with tax laws and internal controls.
Traditional: As sales grow, manually managing more invoices becomes overwhelming and costly, often requiring more staff and resources.Electronic: EIM scales effortlessly with business growth, handling large invoice volumes without extra effort or headcount increases.
E-invoicing is the digital, structured exchange of invoices that enables automated processing in accounting or ERP systems, replacing paper or PDFs.
Invoice automation streamlines your billing by automatically creating, sending, and tracking invoices, cutting down on errors, saving time, and improving cash flow.
Invoice management handles invoice receipt, verification, approval, and payment, ensuring accurate processing and timely vendor payments throughout the lifecycle.
Discover the hidden automation in your payment, billing and invoicing workflows. Talk to our experts for a free assement!
