5 facts and myths about PDF invoices you should know about

Myth: There are both digital and electronic invoices

In reality there is a difference between electronic and digital. But this difference has often been misunderstood by many considering an e-invoice solution. Whereas ‘Electronic ‘is a legal term, ‘Digital’ is a manifestation of an electronic invoice. See the quote below which describes the distinction in relation to ‘signatures’:
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“The legal term is ‘electronic signature ‘. A manifestation of an electronic signature is a digital signature…. A qualified digital certificate provides an advanced electronic signature: a signature which may be granted a great deal of legal guarantees…”
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This distinction was never made with regard to e-invoices, and this is still the case today. In short: a digital invoice is an e-invoice and vice versa.

Fact: An invoice that is not carried by a paper medium is an electronic invoice

A PDF invoice is not carried by a paper medium and therefore it is an electronic invoice. See as an example the recent European e-invoice directive which states the following:
‘Electronic invoicing refers to the process of issuing, transmission, and reception of invoices in a structured electronic format which allows for their automatic and electronic processing.’

Fact: PDF and email are regarded as primary e-invoicing methods

Statistically PDF and e-mail have long been regarded as the primary means for e-invoicing throughout most of the business populations across the world.
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Just imagine saying to those companies that the way they are e-invoicing isn’t really e-invoicing. Or that their method of e-invoicing’ is in fact a fake version of the real thing? Providing evidence to support this view is likely to be a struggle.

Fact: A PDF is created by a PDF printer

A printer can only generate output if the initial input has an existing structure. A PDF is a visual reference of structured information. Despite its clean, polished appearance, a PDF is built on top of structured data.

Myth: PDF invoices flag behind other e-invoicing technologies

Critics of PDF invoicing often argue that PDF invoices are less advanced than data formats such as UBL 2.0 … this is a myth. As a PDF document is a representation of structured data, it can therefore be used to import structured data.

There are many examples of e-invoicing that offer the ability to import/process PDF invoices directly into financial software. (Yes, it requires a few more mouse clicks than straight through processing but has anyone calculated the costs for SME’s yet?). There is a distinct lack of cost effective, high performance products (especially for SME’s) that can import PDFs directly into accounting software.