The reform of electronic invoicing, an opportunity to think internationally – Daf-Mag.fr The reform of electronic invoicing, an opportunity to think international

The reform is now entering a concrete phase. Starting September 1, 2026, all businesses must be able to receive electronic invoices. Issuance will then gradually become mandatory depending on the size of the organizations. For CFOs, the subject is therefore no longer prospective: it is necessary to choose the right partners, adapt the systems, make the data reliable and get the teams on board. 

But sticking to this regulatory reading would be reductive.“The reform is obviously a constraint and a regulatory requirement, but above all it is an opportunity for companies to sustainably modernize their finance function“, recalls Alexandre Huin. 

Because electronic invoices touch on a much broader issue: the control of financial data. An invoice is not an isolated document. It interacts with turnover, VAT, payments, cash flow, accounting and reporting. By forcing companies to structure their flows, the reform poses a fundamental question: do financial departments really have a reliable, fluid and usable vision of their operations? 

Financial flows shaken up by the international 

This question becomes even more sensitive as soon as the company works outside its borders. International is no longer reserved for large groups. An SME, an ETI or a scale-up can very quickly be confronted with foreign suppliers, customers outside France, payments in foreign currencies, exchange costs or entities established in several countries. So many situations which complicate financial circuits, sometimes without the company having formalized a true international organization. 

The risk of a stack of tools 

As the activity grows, tools often pile up out of necessity. In the short term, this logic allows you to move forward quickly, but in the medium term, it creates blind spots. 

The subject is therefore not only to be able to issue or receive a compliant invoice but to know how to link this invoice to the payment, the currency, the associated costs, the available cash and the accounting information reported in the ERP. When data is dispersed, finance teams lose visibility, responsiveness and, sometimes, the ability to anticipate. 

For Alexandre Huin, the reform must precisely serve as a starting point for this diagnosis. What are the company’s real flows? Where do frictions appear? Which tools communicate with each other? What data arrives too late to inform the decision? These questions go beyond the strict framework of electronic invoicing, but they are at the heart of the expected role of CFOs. 

Towards more integrated finance 

In a fragmented organization, finance often intervenes after the fact: it notes, corrects, reconciles, explains. In a more integrated organization, it can lead. 

AirwallexHe understood it well. The platform brings together several financial building blocks traditionally treated separately: multi-currency accounts, collections, supplier payments, foreign exchange, invoicing and expense management. The objective is to reduce points of friction and give financial departments a more readable vision of their operations, in France and internationally, while responding to the compliance of e-invoicing and e-reporting thanks to its integrated partner. 

Anticiper plutôt to rise 

Alexandre Huin’s advice is clear: do not wait until you have taken an international step forward to structure your financial flows. The reform may become the right time to carry out a complete diagnosis of flows, payment methods, currencies used and development ambitions. Because, according to him, the real risk is not to think about the international too early, but to think about it too late. 

Watch Alexandre Huin’s full intervention on video: