Automating incoming invoices: what is possible and what it brings

Opening invoices, retyping data, printing, getting sign-off, filing: in many companies, incoming invoices cost dozens of hours every month. Yet invoice intake is one of the processes best suited to automation. The rules are clear, the volumes are large, and e-invoicing provides a good reason to make the switch.

What does automated invoice intake look like?

1. One central inbox: all invoices arrive in one mailbox, for example invoices@your-company.com. Paper invoices are scanned.
2. Reading: supplier, invoice number, date, amounts and line items are recognised. With e-invoices, this data already arrives in structured form.
3. Checking and matching: the system compares the invoice with the order and delivery note, checks totals and detects duplicates.
4. Digital approval: the responsible person receives the invoice for approval, depending on cost centre and amount.
5. Handover: the checked data goes to accounting or your tax adviser, and the invoice is archived in an audit-proof way.

What does the e-invoicing mandate change?

Since 1 January 2025, companies in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices. From 1 January 2027, companies with more than 800,000 euros of turnover in the previous year must issue e-invoices to other businesses, and from 2028 this applies to all (§ 14 UStG).

For your invoice intake this means more and more invoices arrive as structured data, so reading them becomes unnecessary. An XRechnung, however, is a file meant for machines, not people. Anyone who keeps processing it by hand gives away the real advantage. PDF and paper invoices will not disappear completely, for example for small amounts up to 250 euros or from foreign suppliers. A good solution handles both.

What does it bring in practice?

An example: 400 invoices a month, 12 minutes each so far. After automation, about 3 minutes remain for checking and approval. That saves 720 hours a year, or around 32,000 euros at 45 euros per hour. Is process automation worth it? shows how to run this calculation with your own numbers.

On top come benefits that are harder to put a number on: early payment discounts are missed less often, reminders become rarer, and you can see at any time which invoices are still open.

What should you watch out for?

• Settle the approval process first: who approves what, from which amount, and who stands in during holidays? Without these rules you only automate the confusion.
• Check existing software first: many accounting and document management solutions include invoice intake. Custom development only pays off for special requirements, see Standard software or custom development?
• Agree archiving with your tax adviser: under German rules (GoBD), invoices must be stored unalterably. The solution should cover this from the start.
• Choose providers carefully: invoices contain names and contact details. Look for a data processing agreement and processing within the EU.

How reliably AI reads paper and PDF invoices is covered in Extracting documents with AI.

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Julius Launhardt automates processes such as invoice intake in small and mid-sized companies, connected to the systems already in place. More on the process automation page.