Mexico eInvoicing - The calm before the CFDI storm

As I was preparing to leave for a Financials conference on Monday of this week, I was welcomed by the transition into Spring. And in Atlanta, this means thunderstorms and flight delays.  There is always a strange moment in the south that precedes most any thunderstorm -- a quiet calm. And then all of a sudden, the wind picks up and the rain pours.

I couldn't help of think of this metaphor for what is about to happen in Mexico when the transition of CFD (legacy eInvoicing legislation) is replaced with the new CFDI legislation.  I say this because much like the calm before the storm, there are signs that your organizations that operate in Mexico should not avoid:

1. The SAT established a free CFDI portal for the smallest of suppliers at the end of last year
2. The SAT discontinued the use of Folio's and instead of electing for CFD, made all transition to CFDI
3. The CFDI legislation was relaxed in Q4 to make it easier to implement CFDI
4. As of December 28, 2012, the SAT wants companies to archive the XML CFDI invoices for audit purposes -- making inbound validation a requirement

With this information at hand, the question will be what does your organization do about it.  Last time this happened (i.e the transition from CFD to CFDI in July 2012 for a select set of companies that weren't grandfathered) there was a mad rush to implement.  There were many companies that weren't able to comply in time and faced fines, audits and worse -- shut downs of their operations.

So the question now is -- are you prepared?  We are taught growing up in Atlanta to have an emergency plan when you hear the sirens.  You need a place to go that is secure and dependable so that you come out of the storm safely.  Many organizations are doing the same thing when it comes to the CFD to CFDI transition. They are appropriately - creating budgets, project plans, teams, and gap analysis -- and most importantly they are speaking with solution providers to understand what and when they could implement when it happens.  Remember, 90% of all invoices including those by most multi-nationals are still CFD.  When the storm comes, will you be prepared or will you be scrambling for a solution.  Just food for thought.