On Monday of this week, as I was getting ready to depart for the SAP Insider Financials conference, I was greeted by the change into Spring. Additionally, this will cause aircraft delays and thunderstorms in Atlanta. In the south, there is always a peculiar period of calm before almost any thunderstorm. Then all of a sudden, the rain and wind start to build up.

When the changeover of CFD (old eInvoicing legislation) is replaced with the new CFDI legislation, I couldn’t help but think of this metaphor for what is going to occur in Mexico. I say this because there are warning indications that your companies with operations in Mexico should not ignore, much like the calm before the storm:

  1. At the conclusion of the previous year, the SAT created a free CFDI portal for the smaller suppliers.
  2. The SAT stopped using Folios and switched all exams to CFDI rather than opting for CFD.
  3. In order to make CFDI implementation easier, the CFDI legislation was eased in Q4
  4. By December 28, 2012, the SAT made inbound validation a requirement, requesting that businesses archive the XML CFDI invoices for audit purposes.

What your organisation does in light of this information will be the key question. There was a rush to implement the last time this occurred (i.e. the switch from CFD to CFDI for a restricted group of enterprises who weren’t grandfathered in in July 2012). There were numerous businesses who were unable to comply in time and were subject to penalties, audits, and even worse – the closure of their activities.

The question is now, are you ready? In Atlanta, it is drilled into us as children to have a plan in place in case of disaster. In order to weather the storm properly, you need to travel somewhere that is reliable and safe. When it comes to the shift from CFD to CFDI, many organisations take the same action. The most essential thing is that they are consulting with solution providers to determine what and when they could implement when it happens. They are acting appropriately by developing budgets, project plans, teams, and gap analyses. Recall that 90% of all bills, including those from the majority of multinational corporations, are still CFD. Will you be ready for the storm or will you be looking for a solution as it approaches? only some fodder for thinking.