Topic starter
12/07/2026 12:19 pm
TL;DR: The EU e-invoicing directive requires public authorities to accept and process structured electronic invoices, while the VAT Directive already expects authenticity of origin and integrity of content, according to GlobalSign. For identity and fraud teams, the governance challenge is not invoice digitisation itself but proving issuer identity and preserving content integrity across automated workflows.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by GlobalSign: “La facturación electrónica y la Directiva IVA de la UE”.
By the numbers:
- 2018 saw 3,280 invoice and bank mandate scam cases involving businesses.
- Around £29.6 million of the money lost to invoice fraud was recovered.
Key questions
Q: How should organisations prove invoice authenticity in automated e-invoicing workflows?
A: They should bind the sender’s identity to the invoice using signing, trusted certificates, and controlled workflow hand-offs.
Q: Why does invoice integrity matter if the invoice format is standardised?
A: A standard format only ensures the invoice can be processed consistently.
Q: What breaks when electronic invoices are accepted without strong signature controls?
A: The organisation may be able to process the file, but it cannot reliably prove who issued it or whether its contents changed in transit.
Practitioner guidance
- Strengthen issuer validation for invoice workflows Require a trusted identity check for suppliers that send electronic invoices, especially where automated intake accepts documents without manual review.
- Enforce tamper-evident signing controls Use advanced electronic signatures or equivalent controls that bind the invoice issuer to the document content and preserve integrity after issuance.
- Review invoice intake paths for fraud exposure Map email, portal, and API-based invoice routes to find where duplicate submissions, spoofed payment instructions, or document alteration could occur.
Bottom line: The directive does not make invoicing safer by itself, because the real risk is still fraudulent origin and post-issuance tampering.
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12/07/2026 12:33 pm
Invoice authenticity is now an identity governance problem, not a document-format problem. Standardisation matters, but the decisive control is whether organisations can prove who issued an invoice and preserve that invoice unchanged through processing. Where workflows rely on trust in the channel rather than trust in the issuer, fraud exposure remains high. Practitioners should treat invoice identity assurance as part of access and trust governance.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should public-sector suppliers do to avoid e-invoicing compliance problems?
A: They should validate that their invoice generation and signing process can produce compliant structured invoices that preserve issuer authenticity and content integrity across EU recipient workflows. For cross-border suppliers, this is a trust and governance issue, not just a formatting issue.
👉 Read our full editorial: EU e-invoicing directive shifts invoice authenticity governance