Esker and Grant Thornton France Strengthen Strategic Partnership to Help Businesses Prepare for France’s 2024 E-Invoicing Regulations

LYON, France, and MIDDLETON, Wis. — May 24, 2022 — Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for finance and customer service functions, has strengthened its strategic partnership with Grant Thornton France. A leading audit and consulting firm in France and internationally, Grant Thornton is now an integrator of Esker solutions on the global market. The two companies are joining forces to accelerate the digital transformation of businesses and assist finance departments in understanding and preparing for France’s upcoming e-invoicing regulations in 2024.

Providing businesses with end-to-end support

As of July 2024, e-invoicing will be mandatory for all B2B exchanges. With 2 billion invoices issued in France every year and 4 million companies subject to VAT*, the move to e-invoicing is a huge undertaking, that, in the long run, will reduce processing costs as well as make the exchange of documents more secure and fluid. By digitizing invoice processing, both suppliers and purchasers can be sure that invoices will be automatically and correctly sent, received and declared to the tax authorities.

Combining forces with Grant Thornton France, Esker is able to offer businesses a comprehensive set of services that include upstream consulting services such as IS VAT audit, platform reviews, master plan assessments and IS management, in addition to the end-to-end integration of its process automation solution suite.

“Esker is a provider of AI-driven solutions that make the work of finance staff easier and more effective. By partnering with Grant Thornton, we will be able to assist businesses in addressing the complexities of the upcoming e-invoicing reform in France,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, Esker CEO. “Grant Thornton’s broad functional coverage is a considerable asset and bolsters the strength of our business model. Additionally, at a time when companies are becoming increasingly interdependent, this collaboration will increase our ability to generate new development opportunities.”

“Our role at Grant Thornton is to support finance and IT departments in the deployment of effective and powerful solutions. Our roadmap includes the objective to better address the challenges that come with a company’s digital transformation, covering both the upstream and downstream phases of their projects,” said Christophe Radepont, Partner and National Director of Operational Consulting and Outsourcing at Grant Thornton France. “This evolution towards the integrator business includes expanding our collaboration with Esker, with whom we have had a solid and reliable relationship for several years now. We are looking to expand our team by recruiting new talent and training them on Esker solutions.”

Business process management and consulting remains a high growth sector and is estimated to be worth 18 billion euros by 2025**, thus requiring a comprehensive approach. Grant Thornton's expertise combined with Esker's technological know-how will provide companies with the tools to tackle this key challenge by 2024.

“We decided to cement our cooperation with Esker as it became increasingly apparent the worldwide move towards e-invoicing will markedly reshape how business is conducted. The fundamental value of this partnership lies in the complementary nature of our respective competences, which means that we are able to offer our customers a high level of integration capabilities,” said Radepont. “Esker’s broad functional coverage of both the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles will enable us to directly address international SMEs. Having been actively involved in the regulatory process for the 2024 e-invoicing reform in France, Esker’s value proposition also includes solutions that monitor and respond to local and global regulatory requirements for paperless invoicing. This is a great asset for Grant Thornton and makes them a strong partner for a consulting firm like ours.”

“This strategic partnership in France extends internationally as well, as we have also established partnerships in both the U.S. and Italy,” said Claire Valencony, Sr. Director, Global Strategic Alliances at Esker. “Working with Grant Thornton on an international scale is fully in line with our global strategy of growing Esker’s partner network worldwide.”

* Figures from the General Directorate of Public Finance
** Gartner data
 

About Grant Thornton France

Grant Thornton France, a leading audit, tax and advisory firm with more than 2,000 employees in France and 125 partners in 23 offices, is positioned in five main business areas: Audit, Consulting, Financial Consulting, Operational Consulting and Outsourcing, and Legal and Tax Consulting.

Grant Thornton supports businesses in unleashing their growth potential with the assistance of a wide network of partners and committed teams that deliver value by offering the highest levels of expertise. The members of Grant Thornton International Ltd constitute one of the leading audit and advisory organizations in the world. Each member of the network is financially, legally and managerially independent. http://www.grantthornton.fr/.
 

About Esker

Esker is a global cloud platform built to unlock strategic value for finance and customer service professionals, and strengthen collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle. Esker’s solutions incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.be. Follow Esker on LinkedIn and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.