Peppol eInvoicing in Australia & New Zealand

  • Updated

Peppol is the electronic invoicing standard adopted by the Australian and New Zealand governments to streamline business transactions. It allows your community to receive structured, machine-readable invoices directly from both Registered and Lite suppliers. Eliminating the errors and delays associated with manual data entry from paper or PDF files.

 

Setting Up Peppol in Your Community

To participate in the Peppol network, your community must be reachable by other participants. This requires a connection to a Peppol Access Point, which acts as a "gateway" for your incoming and outgoing electronic documents.

 

Configuration Requirements

Before Unimarket can start receiving invoices for you, the following must be configured:

  • Regional Identifiers:

    • Your Community: Must have a valid ABN (Australia) or NZBN (New Zealand) specified in your Community Settings to identify you as the invoice receiver.

    • Your Suppliers: Must have their ABN/NZBN recorded in their Profile. This ID is critical for matching the invoice to the correct supplier record in Unimarket.

  • sFTP Integration: Your community must be set up with inbound sFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). This is the secure "drop zone" where your Access Point will deliver invoices for Unimarket to process.

 

Managing Peppol Invoices

Once the technical link is established, Peppol invoices flow automatically into your community. You can monitor their status on the File Processing page within Community Admin:

  • Success: The invoice was validated and processed successfully. A link will be provided to view the invoice details directly in Unimarket.

  • Error: If the invoice fails validation (e.g., it is missing mandatory data), it will appear with an error summary.

    • Note: Unimarket requires all Peppol invoices to have a matching Purchase Order; if no PO is found, an error will be generated.

 

Handling Errors and Matching

Because the sFTP delivery process is a one-way transmission, the system cannot automatically "reply" to a supplier's software if an error occurs.

  1. Direct Communication: If an invoice fails, you must notify the supplier directly so they can correct their data and resend the invoice through their software.

  2. Matching: Successful invoices undergo the standard Unimarket matching process (comparing invoice lines to order lines) just like any other electronic or manual invoice.

 

Key Benefits for ANZ Businesses

  • Faster Payments: Many government agencies now offer accelerated payment terms (e.g., 5 days in Australia) for businesses using Peppol.

  • Security: The encrypted network significantly reduces the risk of "billing scams" and fraudulent PDF invoices.

  • Cost Efficiency: Transitioning from paper/PDF to eInvoicing can save between $15 and $20 per invoice, in administrative overhead.