Advice for small and medium businesses

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[Visual: The teal and white branding for eInvoicing is used, the words eInvoicing | Pūtea Tāhiko show on screen with icons representing an invoice, time savings, security and the eInvoicing logo. It is narrated by a woman in a piece to camera style. Icons pop up for around 3 seconds during the video]

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Narrator: Getting set up to receive eInvoices is an easy, worthwhile process that requires little to no investment. 

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Narrator: The time savings and reduction in human error mean you'll have more time to run your business or spend with family and friends. Plus, eInvoicing allows for a lot of detail from each invoice to go directly into your accounting system, providing better visibility and richer information. 

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Narrator: To get set up, you'll first need eInvoicing capable software, so check your software can receive eInvoices by looking at the growing eInvoicing network, viewing the website of your accounting software package, or asking your advisor or accountant. 

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Narrator: Getting registered to receive eInvoices is the next step.

Narrator: Now, this process will vary by accounting package. Your accountant or bookkeeper may have already registered on your behalf. In most cases, this process is easy and free.

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Narrator: Now, once registered and all set up, your next step is to let your suppliers know that you'd prefer to receive eInvoices instead of PDFs.

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Narrator: So you'll need to provide them with your NZBN number and encourage them to get eInvoice capable so that they can do this. eInvoicing's website has a supplier communication toolkit full of strategies that you can adapt and implement to help prepare your suppliers and guide them towards eInvoicing.

[Visual: Image appears of a screen share demonstrating how to locate the link 'https://www.einvoicing.govt.nz/assets/e-invoicing/e-invoicing-communication-toolkit-getting-your-suppliers-ready-for-e-invoicing.pdf']

Narrator: Then, once you're actually ready to receive eInvoices and reap the time and cost-saving benefits of this, all you need to do is wait for your first invoice.

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Narrator: You may get a notification that your accounting software has received one. When you view it, note that the layout is quite different to a bog-standard PDF invoice. Some accounting packages display the invoice data like it would appear in a PDF, and some don't. However, rest assured it's a real invoice that meets the IED's requirements. It may look something like this. 

[Visual: Screenshot of an example eInvoice appears]

Narrator: eInvoicing is a new process that's currently rolling out across New Zealand so not all businesses have jumped on the train yet, and it may some time for this to happen. But you can be part of this notable jump in national business efficiency by encouraging your suppliers to send eInvoices to you through conversation or a note in your email signature. 

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Narrator: It's a win-win the more businesses adopt this new way of working, so help us make it happen.

[Visual: The teal and white branding for eInvoicing is used, the phrase 'Smoother. Faster. Safer. It’s the next step for kiwi business.' the website address 'einvoicing.govt.nz' and 'eInvoicing | Pūtea Tāhiko' show on screen]

[Audio: Upbeat acoustic music plays]

[Visual: The teal and white branding for eInvoicing is used, the words eInvoicing | Pūtea Tāhiko show on screen with icons representing an invoice, time savings, security and the eInvoicing logo. It is narrated by a woman in a piece to camera style. Icons pop up for around 3 seconds during the video]

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Narrator: So you've heard about the upcoming eInvoicing revolution and you want to start making those efficiency gains in your business right away. Well, let me assure you, you're making the right decision.

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Narrator: eInvoicing is about to transform how business and government send and receive invoices.

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Narrator: Instead of generating a PDF invoice and emailing it through, which increases the risk of it being intercepted for fraudulent purposes, and also takes up a silly amount of time, there's now a faster and getaway. 

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Narrator: eInvoicing is the direct exchange of data between any two accounting systems. But my guess is that you'll hear because you can already see its value. Let me jump right in and walk you through how to set up your business to send eInvoices.

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Narrator: In many cases, it's a completely free or low cost process that can be activated in less than five minutes. First, you'll need to make sure that you have eInvoicing capable software for your accounting package.

Narrator: And how do you know if your accounting package is eInvoicing capable? You can either check out the growing list of enabled software providers found on the einvoicing.govt.nz website.

[Visual: The website address 'einvoicing.govt.nz' appears]

Narrator: Check out the website of your accounting package or check with your accountant bookkeeper or other relevant financial advisor. Now, once you've found out that your software or accounting package is eInvoicing capable, you'll need to check what the process is for getting it set up. Different types of software have different processes. Some in fact may have already activated the functionality for you. Finding out how to register or get set up will simply be a case of looking into your software providers eInvoicing page online, or talking to your accountant, then to send an eInvoice.

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Narrator: Well, one thing to note is that you will need the NZBN of the customer that you want to send an eInvoice to.

Narrator: Just like you need an email address to send an email, the NZBN is the address for where to send the eInvoice. Now you may already have this on file already. And to find out the NZBN you can go to the nzbn.govt.nz website and look their business up using the search function.

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Narrator: If there are multiple entries and numbers for their business, you may need to reach out to them and learn which one is the correct one to use. And this might be a lengthy process for businesses with lots of customers. So the best option here is to request something called an NZBN business match.

[Visual: Short animation plays of a cartoon character searching up businesses sending the results to NZBN business match and printing the results]

Narrator: Now, this is when you export a list of your trading partners or buyers before sending it on to the NZBN business match service, which will identify these businesses' NZBNs for free. And if your customers are constantly changing, you could use NZBN's API service, which once a month requests an update of your business contacts and uploads these alongside the NZBN numbers into your accounting system, hands free.

Narrator: Wondering where in your software package to record your customer's NZBN? Well, there's likely to be a field for it in the customer contact section. Now you may however, be able to bulk upload all the NZBN data you receive back from the NZBN data request team into your accounting software to save going through this process one at a time, then comes the actual sending of the invoice part. But this process also varies depending on your software package, but can easily be found out with a quick internet search.

[Visual: Image of internet search box with the text ‘how to send an eInvoice’ appears]

Narrator: Remember here that you can only send eInvoices to buyers who can receive them.

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Narrator: To work out who can receive them, you should ask them whether or not they have the capability to receive eInvoices and keep this record on file, so your accounts receivable team know.

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Narrator: Then when a new customers come in, let them know from the start that you can send eInvoices by adding a note to your email signature, stating that you have that capability. You may even want to add this information into the PDF invoices that you generate alongside your NZBN number.

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[Visual: 'einvoicing.govt.nz' appears at the bottom of the screen]

Narrator: Bringing awareness to the benefits eInvoicing provides means more businesses will have up on board and like a domino effect, an eInvoicing revolution will start to form. So be part of it.

[Visual: The teal and white branding for eInvoicing is used, the phrase “Smoother. Faster. Safer. It’s the next step for kiwi business.” the website address “einvoicing.govt.nz” and “eInvoicing | Pūtea Tāhiko” show on screen]