Thursday 4th April, 2013

The adoption of electronic invoicing has spread rapidly across the Nordic countries, with Denmark and Norway currently leading the way with Sweden following closely behind. However, it seems that Finland currently has a way to go to catch up.

According to a study conducted by Itella Information, in 2012, 76 percent of invoices were received electronically in Denmark and 69 percent in Norway. The figures for Sweden, Finland and Russia were 46, 41 and 31 percent, respectively.

The study found that 2 or 3 years from now, e-invoicing will continue to be the primary (and growing) option for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while printed invoices are likely to remain an important part of the Finnish invoicing infrastructure, and e-mail invoices will be favoured in Russia. E-invoices are most popular in the case of regular billing, and in all Nordic countries bills are most often paid through an online bank. In Russia, online banking is not yet as widespread as in the Nordic countries.

 Unsurprisingly, the study also showed that the most effective way of getting people to convert from printed invoices to e-invoices is by compulsion or strong persuasion.