Electronic Billing (e-Billing)

Electronic billing, also commonly known as e-Billing, is the process that companies often use to receive payments quickly and efficiently. 

Instead of sending paper-based bills, companies can send electronic bills and receive payments directly online. It’s a fantastic way for businesses to save time when processing payments, while also reducing their operational expenditure. 

What Is e-Billing?

e-Billing is a process that companies use to receive bills from third parties. For instance, instead of sending a paper-based invoice, companies can send an electronic bill to their debtors, and receive payments online in their accounts. 

An e-bill can be sent through a portal, or through email. It can also be uploaded as an electronic document, often as a PDF file. This makes it easy for the company’s debtors to first review the bill before they release payment. 

In most cases, e-bills are usually created by financial or accounting software. It is then sent to the payer. The process for e-Billing is fast and efficient, and helps companies save a considerable amount of money when compared with paper-based billing. 

Today, e-Billing is a key component used by accounts receivable as well as accounts payable departments. E-Billing and invoicing makes it easy for such departments to process payments and track receivables and payables.

What are the Benefits of e-Billing?

E-Billing offers a plethora of advantages to businesses, including:

• Faster payment processing through options such as ACH
• Options for setting up recurring payments
• Lower costs for delivering e-bills than paper-based delivery 
• A system of record (SOR)
• Frees employees to focus on more high-value tasks instead of monotonous payment processing
• Reduced risk of errors
• Integration with financial systems 
• Increased process efficiencies 
• Greater cash flows
• Flexible and scalable 
• Reduced ecological impact 

Traditional billing was highly reliant on paper-based billing and the use of checks. This had its own problems, since there was no official system and storage or retrieval of bills. 

With e-Billing and invoicing, companies can easily store bills in a centralized repository, and retrieve them whenever required. 

Difference Between e-Billing and e-Invoicing

While the two are often considered the same, there are some key differences that you should know about. E-Billing is the process of sending bills and offering customers the option to pay as well. 

On the other hand, e-Invoicing simply refers to sending invoices digitally, but the payment feature isn’t integrated within the system. There are all-in-one payment solutions available, such as AP automation software. 

What Does an e-Bill Include?

An average e-bill looks very similar to physical bills. In fact, it’s simply a digital representation of a physical bill, often submitted in PDF format. They contain key information including:

• Particulars of goods or services rendered
• Date of issue
• Amount
• Due date for payment
• Payment terms

In most cases, e-bills also contain a link that payers can use to quickly settle the bill.