Importing e-invoices into Saga: How to eliminate manual entry of purchase invoices
Since July 2024, all B2B invoices are issued via RO e-Factura. Here is how to bring them automatically into Saga without any manual entry.
Mihai Istrati - CTO Azuvio · 2026-05-21 · 7 min · ERP & Integrations
The problem after July 2024
Since July 1, 2024, all B2B invoices in Romania must pass through the RO e-Factura system (managed by ANAF, the Romanian tax authority). This means every company receives dozens, hundreds, or thousands of invoices monthly as XML UBL 2.1 files, submitted by suppliers to their virtual private space (SPV).
Saga (C or Soft) reads e-invoice XMLs natively, but it does not download them automatically from the SPV. The operator must manually connect with a digital certificate, download the ZIP archive, unzip it, import it into Saga, and resolve mismatches (suppliers not in the database, unmapped items, unselected accounting accounts).
For 200 received invoices/month: ~12-18 working hours/month of manual labor for downloading + importing + validation.
The standard 'manual download from SPV' workflow
1. The accountant authenticates in the SPV-ANAF system with a certificate (10 min)
2. Filtering by company tax ID + period (5 min)
3. Downloading the ZIP with all received XMLs (variable 5-30 min)
4. Local unzipping
5. Importing into Saga, batches of 50 invoices (10-15 min)
6. Conflict resolution: 'new supplier', 'unknown item', 'missing accounting account' (5-30 seconds per invoice)
7. Validating the purchase journal + reconciliation with the trial balance (1-2 hours monthly)
Total: 8-15 hours/month for a company with 100-300 received invoices.
The modern workflow: Azuvio downloads, validates, and pushes to Saga
Azuvio automates steps 1-6 through direct integration with the SPV-ANAF API:
1. Automatic download - every 30 minutes, Azuvio queries the SPV using your certificate (stored securely) and downloads new XMLs.
2. Parsing + validation - it extracts from the XML: supplier VAT ID, date, base amount per VAT rate, line items. It validates the VAT ID against the tax authority database (is the supplier still VAT registered? are they active?). It detects duplicates.
3. Matching with Saga database - it searches for the supplier in your Saga database (via VAT ID). If found → it uses the ID. If not found → it proposes automatic creation with data from the invoice (the operator confirms only once per new supplier).
4. Accounting entry generation - depending on the purchase type (goods, services, fixed assets, fuel, etc.) and your mappings (configured once), Azuvio generates the complete accounting entry: debit account, credit account, base amount, VAT amount.
5. Pushing to Saga via file exchange, at the end of the day (or on-demand), Azuvio generates the XML/CSV import file for Saga and places it in a watch folder. The accountant runs `Import` in Saga, and the month closes with a complete, validated purchase journal.
6. Exception alerts - any invoice that Azuvio CANNOT process automatically (unexpected negative amount, non-standard VAT rate, failed VAT ID validation) → email + dashboard notification. The operator intervenes only on exceptions.
Measurable results
Based on real Azuvio + Saga implementations:
Manual time reduction: from 12-18 hours/month to 1-2 hours/month (exceptions only)
Lost invoice rate (unclaimed VAT): from 3-5% down to 0.2%
Month-end closing time: from day 22 to day 5 of the following month
Statutory reporting preparation (e.g. D394): from 8 hours manual work to 30 minutes (data is already cross-check validated)
What DOES NOT change for the accountant
Your accountant (or firm) continues to work in Saga exactly as they do today. The only difference: instead of manually downloading from the SPV and entering data, they will run `Import` from a folder where files are already generated, validated, and ready.
Saga remains the source of truth for: chart of accounts, trial balance, general ledger, VAT returns, and SAF-T. Azuvio does not touch any of these, it only feeds the purchase journal accurately and on time.
How to get started
1. Connect your digital certificate in Azuvio (5 min, one-time setup)
2. Configure accounting account mappings by category (15-30 min, one-time setup)
3. Set up the watch folder in Saga (5 min)
4. Run the first day in parallel with the manual flow for validation
5. From day 2 - everything is automated
Total implementation: 1-2 working days. See the ANAF Fiscal Hub page or the Saga integration for technical details.
Conclusion
The mandatory transition to e-invoicing in 2024 created a real problem for accountants: the manual workload increased rather than decreased. The right solution is not 'change Saga', but 'automate what is between the tax authority and Saga'. Azuvio does exactly that - without changing anything in how your accountant uses Saga.