40% more businesses now send invoices electronically than last year

Radical changes in work organization over the past year have prompted companies to accelerate their transition to digital invoicing. Currently, 62% of Latvian companies already use some form of electronic invoicing solution.

Looking back at data from previous years, it is clear that interest in electronic invoicing continues to grow. Last summer, 38.5% of Latvian companies prepared and sent invoices in digital format, but with the introduction of mandatory remote work, the share of digital solution users has increased by nearly 40%. There is also growing interest in the most modern form of automatically generated invoices – e-invoices. It should be emphasized that entrepreneurs are increasingly understanding and appreciating their advantages,” comments Viesturs Slaidiņš, Head of Jumis Pro.

“The introduction of remote work has helped many companies appreciate the benefits of using e-invoices. First, it simplifies the daily routine of accountants by reducing staff workload. Second, it significantly reduces expenses related to invoice processing, printing, and mailing. An equally important benefit is the significantly lower risk of human error, as the volume of manual work decreases. When considering climate change and sustainability, it must be emphasized that e-invoices reduce paper consumption and the need for vehicle transport. The larger the company using e-invoices, the greater the benefit from implementing the system,” emphasizes the President of the Latvian Information and Communications Technology Association (LIKTA), Prof. Signe Bāliņa.

Currently, 62% of Latvian companies already use some form of electronic invoicing solution.

After surveying more than a hundred Latvian companies, Jumis Pro, the developer of the business management and accounting software Jumis, found that the most popular solution is sending PDF invoices via email. This is used by 43% of all respondents. Although this format is considered the lowest level of digitalization, its preparation, transmission, and processing are significantly faster than in the case of paper invoices. Furthermore, an electronically prepared invoice does not require a manager's signature, the acquisition of which slows down document flow in remote work conditions.

One-fifth of those surveyed have chosen a higher level of digitalization by implementing e-invoices—documents automatically generated by computer software and automatically read and processed by the recipient's computer software. 4% of companies use online data exchange channels such as Fitek, Telema, Omniva, or similar, 2% prefer sending structured invoices to an e-address, and 1% exchange XML files via email, while 12% use some other e-invoicing solution. Meanwhile, 37% continue to work with paper invoices.

The survey data shows that

the majority, 43% of respondents, consider time savings in document processing to be the main benefit of using e-invoices,

24% value faster document receipt, and 22% find it important that e-invoices reduce the risk of errors. Another tenth of companies consider it a benefit that e-invoices are immediately included in the accounting system, even if the accountant cannot process them right away.