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eInvoicing Adoption Leaders Group minutes – 17 May 2021

Minutes from the 2nd eInvoicing Adoption Leaders Group (eALG) meeting held on 17 May 2021.

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Meeting details

Date

  • Monday, 17 May, 3:00pm

Time

  • Wellington, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
  • Melbourne, 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Location

  • Pastoral House, 25 The Terrace, Wellington
  • MS Teams meeting

Attendence

Chair

  • Stewart McRobie, CFO Finance and Performance, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)

Group Members

* Attended remotely

  • Alistair Smith, CFO (NZ) - IAG Insurance *
  • Caroline Rawlinson, CFO - MYOB *
  • Emma Dobson - Independent
  • Ian Hankins, CFO - Westpac *
  • Jeff Martin, Chief Technology Officer - B2BE *
  • John Eastman, New Zealand MD - Oracle
  • John Healy, CFO - ACC
  • John Mazenier, New Zealand Country Manager - Technology One *
  • Kris Gerken, Head of Finance - Placemakers / Fletcher Building *
  • Nathan Marsh, CFO - Foodstuffs *
  • Peter Gudsell, CFO - Auckland Council *
  • Stefan Knight, Finance Director - Spark NZ *

Substitutes

  • Chris Greenough, Director, Global Service Operations - Fonterra *
  • Luke Smith, Director of Operations, New Zealand - Xero *
  • Neil Padley, Head of Finance Shared Services – Corporate - Woolworths NZ (Countdown) *
  • Nick Quin, Director, Public Sector - SAP
  • Philip Leath, GM Tax and Procurement - ANZ
  • Richard Marshall, Manager Financial Accounting and Transactional Services - WCC

Secretariat 

  • Andrew Cooke, e-Invoicing Product Manager, MBIE

Apologies / Not in attendance

  • Craig Hudson, MD, New Zealand & Pacific Islands - Xero
  • Gillian O'Neill, General Manager Finance (Countdown) - Woolworths NZ (Countdown)
  • Marc Rivers, CFO - Fonterra
  • Phil Cameron, MD, SAP New Zealand - SAP
  • Sara Hay, CFO - Wellington City Council
  • Stewart Taylor, CFO - ANZ

Observers

  • Linda More, Principal Advisor Marketing and Communications - MBIE *
  • Mark Wierzbicki, Director eInvoicing - MBIE
  • Stu Ross, Manager Operations and Promotion - MBIE

Meeting minutes

Welcome and introductions

Board minute Action Required
Round table of introductions for substitutes and members attending for the first time. Nil

Administration

Board minute Action Required
The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed to be true and accurate.
The Chair noted that the meeting is being minuted to capture high level actions or decisions.  Comments will not be attributed to individuals or organisations. Minutes are being published on einvoicing.govt.nz. 
The Chair noted that no declarations of interest have been received. AP 1.1    Any declarations of interest to be submitted to the Secretariat prior to the next meeting.
Future meetings were agreed to be proposed on Monday afternoons. The Secretariat confirmed that the next three meetings, through to November, will be scheduled soon. AP 1.2    The next three meetings will be set up as placeholders on Monday afternoons.

General

Board minute Action Required
The Chair gave a briefing on the progress of eInvoicing since the last meeting. During the briefing Stewart noted:
  • There are now 22 Access Point Providers.
  • The syndicated (AOG) contract for Government is due to go live imminently.
  • Central Government adoption is to be strongly encouraged through letters from responsible Ministers to Chief Executives.
  • Overall targets have been presented and approved by the Hon Stuart Nash.
  • Certification to best practice for invoice content / data standards, which will enable faster processing of invoices, is progressing. MBIE’s partners have or are implementing the data standards.
  • MBIE’s eInvoicing implementation is almost complete.
Mark Wierzbicki, Director, eInvoicing presented the 4 corner model used by Peppol for eInvoicing.
Stu Ross, Manager Operations and Promotion, presented the:
  • Preliminary findings of the ThinkPlace customer insights research.
  • Australian Tax Office (ATO) small and micro business research.
  • MBIE adoption strategy.
The two research papers will be sent to the Group once the ThinkPlace research is finalised. AP 1.3    ATO and ThinkPlace research papers to be shared once finalised.
There was an open discussion among the Group. Points, questions and actions included:
  • Some members see the investment in technology, and the prioritisation of a project to implement eInvoicing against other initiatives, to be a key challenge. Meanwhile, other members viewed the business change process as the main challenge to implement eInvoicing. Maturity of an organisations procure to pay model was also noted as a significant factor influencing eInvoicing implementation in large organisations.
  • A presentation of how an eInvoice travels through the network was offered by a member from one of the technology companies.
  • The new einvoicing.govt.nz website was acknowledged with positive feedback given by some Group members.
  • A member recommended that the Group use their collective influence to on-board common suppliers to eInvoicing. A conversation ensued on setting up a Community of Practice (a subgroup of this Group) to pursue such opportunities.
  • A member noted that there are paper based invoice requirements for trans-Tasman custom clearances (import/export documentation) and asked if this is in scope for digitisation. MBIE will look into this and report back to the Group at the next meeting.
  • A member asked if there are any guidelines that can be applied to the level of change and materiality to implement eInvoicing. Information will be sought to help quantify the level of change to implement eInvoicing. This will be shared at the next meeting.
  • There was a general discussion on reporting and metrics and how this relates to enablement and potential volumes. Some reporting will be produced and shared at the next meeting.
  • A member asked about MBIE’s promotion and communications plans. A wider communication plan is being developed. This will be shared at the next meeting along with a further update on the adoption plan.
 AP 1.4    Presentation of how an eInvoice travels through the network to be given at the next meeting by one of the technology providers in the Group.

AP 1.5    Discuss setting up a Community of Practice at the next meeting.

AP 1.6    Investigate the digitisation of paper based invoice requirements for trans-Tasman custom clearances.

AP 1.7    Information to help quantify the level of change to implement eInvoicing will be shared at the next meeting.

AP 1.8    Reporting on key metrics will be shared at the next meeting.

AP 1.9    A further update on adoption, including a wider communication plan, will be shared at the next meeting.

MEETING CLOSED: 5:00pm

© Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

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