In 2014, the United States (U.S.) implemented its first open transparency data law, the The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act). If you’re unsure about the DATA Act, what it’s trying to do, or how to comply with it, keep reading for our analysis and tips for adherence. Hint: It all comes down to properly utilizing financial budgeting software.
We know you have unanswered questions about the DATA Act. We also know that you want to utilize your financial planning software to its fullest potential. Questica can help, thanks to our years of financial expertise. Since 1998, Questica has worked to make handling finances easier and better for government, non-profit, and other organizations. We manage over $63 billion in annual budgets, and we want to help you. Please visit our website for more information and consider signing up for one of our free webinars.
How to ensure you’re in compliance with the DATA Act
First, how does the DATA Act work?
This federal regulation is relatively easy to understand. It involves two basic steps. The first is requiring the U.S. Treasury and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish government-wide standards for the spending information that agencies report. The second step is that the Treasury and OMB must publish the standardized spending data to the public. This means putting it on a website where the public has free access to view and download the data for whatever government organization they want.
How can you be in compliance with the DATA Act?
Compliance with the DATA Act can be simple. The first and most important step is to track your agency’s spending in a reliable, consistent manner, which you can do easily with financial budgeting software. Compared to error prone Excel spreadsheets, budgeting software requires little effort to track spending because it’s designed for financial needs. Most budgeting software is also less complicated to manage than Excel, and the UI is more intuitive.
Using the budgeting software helps you comply with DATA because it’s easier to track your spending, which means it’s easier to report the data to the U.S. Treasury. If you want to look at examples of how the spending is reported, you can visit the U.S. spending website, which is USAspending.gov.
Questica makes it easy for you to comply with DATA
You should rely on a powerful, efficient budgeting software to help your agency track and report its spending. Questica software provides the ease of use you need, as well as a complete and comprehensive tracking data, so there’s no confusion. We are a passionate team of technology experts and business specialists with decades of collective experience managing finances and budgeting software. You’ll be amazed at how much time and energy your business will save with dedicated financial software. To learn more about Questica and how our software can help you, download a whitepaper or take a product tour.
