Published on the 22/07/2026 | Written by Heather Wright
This time uptake might support them…
Three years ago after eInvoicing advocates were promising a $30 billion economic boost for Australia and New Zealand. It was the sort of forecast that sounded either visionary or wildly optimistic, depending on whether you were presenting it or sitting through the presentation. Now they have something they arguably lacked at the time: some realism based on adoption.
The number of New Zealand businesses registered to receive eInvoices – which enable businesses to send and receive invoices directly between accounting systems – has more than doubled from 52,000 to 113,000 in the past year.
“According to the research, businesses can save around 16 minutes and $11 on every invoice processed through eInvoicing.”
At the same time, NZIER research released by Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Cameron Brewer estimates widespread eInvoicing adoption could deliver up to $800 million a year in productivity gains.
According to the research, businesses can save around 16 minutes and $11 on every invoice processed through eInvoicing. Scaled across the economy, that could add up quickly, particularly for organisations processing thousands of invoices each year.
More importantly for business leaders, eInvoicing is becoming harder to ignore.
Last October the government introduced rules requiring government agencies to mandate eInvoicing for large suppliers – including Australian businesses – from January 2027. The move is designed to support faster payments and reduce administrative overheads across supply chains, but it also signals a broader shift in how governments expect businesses to exchange invoices.
“We’re not just asking businesses to make the switch, we’re doing it ourselves. When government pays on time, that money flows straight through to the small businesses and subcontractors down the chain,” Brewer says.
The billion-dollar pitch
The latest figures provide an interesting update on some of ambitious forecasts made when Australia and New Zealand first started promoting eInvoicing more aggressively.
Back in 2023, the when the then prime ministers of both countries signed off on a joint statement confirming agreement to use OpenPeppol, economic gains of up to $30 billion across both countries over a decade were projected from eInvoicing use and related digital trade initiatives. New Zealand’s share was estimated at NZ$4.4 billion over 10 years, or roughly $440 million annually. At the time, uptake remained relatively modest and critics questioned whether businesses would ever embrace the technology at the scale required to unlock those benefits.
Three years on, the conversation has become more practical.
Instead of talking about transforming the trans-Tasman economy, ministers are talking about saving 16 minutes per invoice. Instead of promoting billion-dollar opportunities, they’re pointing to 113,000 businesses already connected to the network. Ironically, that more grounded message may be proving more persuasive than the grander vision ever was.
The shift isn’t unique to New Zealand with countries around the world pushing down similar paths. From September, companies exporting to France will be required to issue and receive invoices electronically, with Germany, the Philippines and the UAE following in January.
In Australia the federal government is establishing eInvoicing as the default method for exchanging invoice information in government procurement and has set targets requiring federal agencies to increase the proportion of invoices received through the Peppol network. Officials there are promoting many of the same benefits being highlighted in New Zealand: Improved productivity, stronger cashflow and reduced fraud.
While neither government has mandated economy-wide business-to-business eInvoicing, they are steadily building procurement requirements that make participation harder to avoid.
Adoption challenges
One reason eInvoicing adoption has taken longer than advocates predicted is that the technology has occupied an awkward middle ground between obvious and annoying. The benefits were rarely disputed, but neither was the reality that for larger organisations this is rarely just a switch-flip exercise. Configuring ERP, finance and procurement systems, onboarding trading partners and navigating Peppol requirements required more effort than many organisations were prepared to invest. Or, for the major beneficiaries (such as high volume retail networks), had already invested in long ago by establishing their own EDI gateways.
Peppol’s network uses a ‘four-corner model’ – a supplier (corner 1) sends an invoice to its service provider or ‘access point’ (corner 2), which then queries the DCL (digital capability locator) using the receivers identifier such as the ABN or NZBN. The DCL then provides the suppliers access point which access point the buyer is using so the invoice can be routed through the Peppol network to the buyer’s service provider (corner 3) to deliver to the buyer (corner 4).
While OpenPeppol was designed to simplify document exchange by allowing businesses to connect once and exchange invoices with any other participant on the network, organisations still needed a reason to prioritise the work.
What appears to be changing is not the technology itself, but the growing pressure to adopt it.
Whether New Zealand ultimately realises $800 million in annual productivity gains remains to be seen. But, after years of forecasts, policy papers and industry evangelism, eInvoicing may be crossing an important threshold.
