Building a roadmap to e-invoicing compliance at a clean-energy provider

Belgium adopts e-invoicing: compliance required by 2026

Over more than ten years, e-invoicing legislation has been developed to enhance financial transaction transparency, helping governments reduce tax losses and combat fraud through better monitoring and tracking. Early adopters like Italy have seen improved tax compliance and collection. Beyond government benefits, e-invoicing simplifies processes for companies by automating and digitizing invoicing, which reduces manual work and speeds up transactions, especially for cross-border operations. Belgium has adopted e-invoicing legislation, with mandatory compliance set for January 2026. For Belgian businesses, the time to act is now.

E-Invoicing readiness for global operations

E-invoicing compliance is not a one-size-fits-all process. Regulations differ widely across countries and even regions. Each country sets requirements regarding the scope, timing, tools, formats, and enforcement of these regulations.

For multinational companies, the complexity increases as compliance requirements impact core operations, such as procure-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) processes, master data management, and the supporting technology stack.

A multinational clean energy solutions provider active in 15 countries and headquarters in Belgium faced this challenge. As they operate in multiple countries, maintaining a clear overview of the specific regulations in each jurisdiction has become increasingly challenging. To become e-invoicing compliant, they wanted to review their processes, tooling landscape, and regulatory landscape to become e-invoicing compliant.

To navigate this complexity and identify which countries should be prioritized, the company partnered with TriFinance for a comprehensive readiness check starting from an existing and future compliance perspective. High-level insights into global compliance requirements, processes, and tooling can be leveraged to provide recommendations on the best path forward to ensure compliance and operational efficiency.

Readiness check and strategic roadmap

The TriFinance readiness check assesses the current compliance landscape to analyze an organization's readiness. When the project was launched, in September 2024, the project team, led by Expert Practice Leader Vicky Posthumus and Project Consultant Nienke Van Turnhout, conducted a readiness assessment focusing on key business processes such as Procure-to-Pay (P2P) and Order-to-Cash (O2C), along with associated master data and the application landscape.

The TriFinance team combined insights into regional compliance requirements with an analysis of processes, master data, and tooling. The readiness report included tailored recommendations and a clear roadmap toward achieving e-invoicing compliance. This pragmatic way of working aligned with the client’s hands-on management and commitment to sustainability.

A comprehensive approach to e-invoicing compliance and process transformation

The TriFinance team consisted of experts from various fields related to e-invoicing, transformation, and business applications. The overall purpose was to deliver a high-quality tailor-made solution that covered all essential points such as expertise in regulatory standards, processes, master data, and business applications, along with transformation and change management skills.

Based on the documentation and visualization in the first step, the TriFinance team created a comprehensive overview of the P2P and O2C processes, the application landscape, and the geographical scope.

The assessment identified risks and recommendations related to processes, master data, and tools that could hinder e-invoicing compliance. A key component of the analysis was a summary of relevant foreign legislation. This summary helped the client prioritize countries based on urgency and financial impact.

A clear roadmap for action

All findings were consolidated into a comprehensive readiness report. The report included analyses of processes, the application landscape, and regulatory requirements. It also highlighted risks and listed actionable recommendations.

Based on these insights, a detailed roadmap was developed. The roadmap prioritized actions to guide the client systematically toward compliance. It featured simple, practical steps, avoiding overly complex terminology. This clarity made the recommendations easy to understand and implement, particularly in areas like tool selection.

The straightforward approach provided the client with an achievable compliance path. Appreciating the clarity and structure, the client requested further support from TriFinance to implement key parts of the roadmap.