Why Missed Invoicing is Holding Back Business Expansion

Procurement teams are feeling the impact of a global compliance crunch.

New data from Basware show that more than half of companies are missing out on overseas growth due to invoicing errors and tax reporting failures.

The compliance breaking point

As e-invoicing mandates tighten across markets, inefficient manual processes are not only triggering fines but also slowing supplier payments and disrupting global supply chains. This is pushing finance and procurement leaders to embed automation and visibility into every stage of the procure-to-pay (P2P) process.

Basware surveyed 400 finance leaders around the world as part of its Beyond the Checkbox: Compliance as Strategy Report 2025, conducted by independent research firm Financial Times Longitude.

It found 56% of companies are struggling to expand overseas as a result of either missed invoicing or tax compliance deadlines.

Increasing financial regulatory demands combined with fragmented internal systems are creating a "compliance breaking point," preventing businesses from reaching their full global potential.

More than a third (36%) have received fines for submitting incorrect tax audits, demonstrating how widespread tax compliance failures are and the risk being posed to businesses. 

Compliance failures – defined as when companies submit incorrect tax information, miss regulatory deadlines or process invoices that should have never been paid because they were fraudulent – is having a direct impact on the growth for financial operations.

The ripple effect across supply chains

Almost two-in-five (39%) companies have seen invoices rejected as a result of either tax or invoicing compliance errors. As international finance and tax regulations become increasingly complex, the financial and reputational cost of falling short is rising. 

The impact goes far beyond internal operations, directly affecting global supply chains and customer relationships. Companies that fail to meet local finance and tax rules risk delayed shipments, rejected invoices and strained partner relationships.

Basware reviewed 272 million invoices last year and found that 57% arrived as PDFs or paper rather than compliant e-invoicing formats. That equates to US$783bn of non-compliant invoices flowing through global businesses.

Despite increasing regulatory pressure and e-invoicing mandates, more than half of all business invoices still require manual processing, which delays payments and raises error rates.

This underlines the growing complexity of compliance and the need for finance leaders to adopt modern, automated systems to keep pace with constantly changing regulations. Failure to do so could mean missing out on lucrative overseas opportunities due to inefficiency and avoidable compliance errors.

The visibility crisis facing CFOs

The report reveals that 91% of CFOs see poor visibility into compliance processes as a serious operational risk. At the same time, 32% of organisations regularly submit incorrect tax audits, exposing deep-seated weaknesses in financial governance and oversight.

A lack of transparency lessens confidence in financial reporting and exposes companies to costly regulatory penalties and reputational damage.

Improving compliance visibility has become a strategic imperative for CFOs – but manual processes and disjointed data systems continue to slow progress.

Markus Hornburg, Head of Compliance at Basware, says: "If you can't be compliant, you can't grow. Businesses are losing out on millions in potential revenue simply because their systems can't keep up with global tax and invoicing demands. Most compliance challenges aren't caused by misconduct, they stem from controllable technical issues, like manual invoices and unstructured PDFs.

"CFOs face growing risks, from fines to lost revenue and strained partner relationships. AI-driven automation, supported by strong invoice practices, gives finance teams the ability to process invoices accurately, streamline audits and stay ahead of changing compliance requirements, turning compliance from a burden into a strategic advantage."

Few organisations have fully embedded compliance within their core operations. Just 29% have implemented comprehensive platforms to manage compliance effectively and only 11% operate cross-functional teams, often limited by budget and technology constraints.

In contrast, those with integrated, centralised systems are significantly better protected – 83% report minimal fines and stronger revenue and profit performance than peers. Encouragingly, 92% of finance leaders plan to form cross-functional teams supported by C-suite leadership to take a more holistic approach to tax and compliance management.

This shift towards a proactive, embedded model highlights how compliance can move from being a reactive obligation to a driver of business performance and global resilience.