Workiva Helps Expand Open Data for Federal Government Spending

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Workiva (NYSE:WK), creator of the Wdesk cloud-based productivity platform for enterprises, will play a key role as a partner sponsor in tomorrow's DATA Act Summit here, which is expected to draw people from more than 40 federal agencies and state governments to assess the progress of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act).

The DATA Act requires the federal government to switch from a process of collecting spending information in disconnected documents and reports to an electronic process using a standardized, open-data format. This includes establishing consistent data standards for federal agencies, grantees and contractors, which aims to increase accountability over how federal funds are received, categorized and spent.

Ultimately, the information required under the DATA Act will flow into the website http://www.usaspending.gov, which reports on federal contracts, grants, loans and other assistance.

"We are proud to sponsor the DATA Act Summit because we want to increase the value of government data," said Matt Rizai, Chairman and CEO of Workiva. "Our Wdesk platform can help everyone involved control, monitor and understand their data with a single, trusted source."

"Implementing government-wide data standards will improve accountability and transparency," said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Coalition. "Technologies developed by companies such as Workiva can use the new standards to automate compliance and make federal spending data accessible to everyone."

At the DATA Act Summit, discussion will focus on progress made over the past year since the data standards were announced in May 2015 by the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Agencies must comply with the data standards when reporting spending beginning in May 2017. Summit sessions will also focus on best practices to improve accountability and financial management in grantee and nonprofit reporting.

About Workiva 
Workiva (NYSE:WK) created Wdesk, a cloud-based productivity platform for enterprises to collect, link, report and analyze business data with control and accountability. Thousands of organizations, including over 65 percent of the Fortune 500^®, use Wdesk. The platform's proprietary word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications are integrated and built upon a data management engine, offering synchronized data, controlled collaboration, granular permissions and a full audit trail. Wdesk helps mitigate enterprise risk, improve productivity and give users confidence to make decisions with real-time data. Workiva employs more than 1,200 people with offices in 16 cities. The company is headquartered in Ames, Iowa. For more information, visit workiva.com. 

About the Data Coalition
The Data Coalition advocates on behalf of the private sector and the public interest for the publication of government information as standardized, open data. Open data enhances accountability, improves government management, reduces compliance costs, and stimulates innovation. For more information, visit datacoalition.org.

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Contact:
Kevin McCarthy
Workiva Inc.
(515) 663-4471
[email protected]

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SOURCE Workiva Inc.

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