Standard Invoices

Why not require all vendors to submit standard invoices? If you are like me, you can immediately start thinking of reasons this will never work but it has already worked for some. For years trading partners using SAP have utilized edi to send invoices in a predetermined format.
With the continual pressure to reduce cost, many corporations are moving to electronic invoicing but paper still constitutes the majority of invoices. To reduce the cost of processing paper invoices many corporations are implementing OCR solutions such as the optional OCR included with SAP Invoice Management by Open Text. Having a standard format for invoices would significantly enhance the OCR process. Even for those entering invoice meta data manually, standard invoice format would significantly reduce the time per invoice.
With a standard format, it would be expected that the vendor logo be located in one section and header information would always be found in the same place. Typical line item details would also always be consistent in format. The standard may need to be of several variations such as one for services and another for goods. The format should also be international so as to include relevant tax information.
Changing is never easy but a onetime investment in the effort could reap continual rewards in efficiency. While it would not be realistic to expect 100% participation, even if a corporation achieved 50% standard format invoices, major improvement would result.
The continuing pressure on profitability may be just the impetus to facilitate moving an old idea into the mainstream.

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