S-1 and S-1a in Wdesk

Situation

• During Khadija's first quarter, the company used a financial printer to manage its S-1 materials. Upper-level managers were familiar with the process, and given the amount of work required during that time period, they weren't considering other options. The company filed its first S-1 and first 10-Q using the printer.
• Khadija had used Wdesk in a previous position and knew the value that it would bring to the company's reporting process, so she pushed management to consider a demo. After several discussions, her CAO and CFO agreed to see Wdesk. Their confidence in the product was bolstered by the list of current customers, including a large number of the 500 largest U.S. corporations by total revenue. Once they saw the demo, management began to see the value in Wdesk. 
• The third quarter after the company went public, it did a secondary offering—this time using Wdesk. In that same quarter, it also filed the 8-K for the press release, the 10-Q, the S-1a, and the final prospectus with the application. 
   

How Wdesk works for the company

• During the secondary offering, Khadija worked alongside a consultant who had helped with the initial offering. Since the two were the only ones with access to the application, they utilized the blackline feature to stay in sync with external parties on changes and updates to the document.
• In an effort to reuse work they had already done and maximize their efficiency, they rolled forward information from the secondary S-1 into the S-1a, tagged it, and then rolled it forward into the 10-K, saving a lot of time and stress at the end of the quarter.
• Khadija was familiar with XBRL, but the consultant had never encountered it before. A Workiva Professional Services Manager helped them do all of their tagging, assisting and teaching along the way.
• The duo relied heavily on linking during final prospectus setup. Because so many figures depend on the share price, they set up a workbook and linked it to multiple places in the S-1 and 10-K. If financial statements were updated or if they had an adjustment to the price, they only updated one cell, and all other related figures updated automatically.

Results

• Although the consultant had never used the application before, he was so pleased with its performance that he went on to recommend it to others.
• Stress was kept at a minimum during the entire process. Rolling forward and linking created a seamless experience across all filings, giving Khadija time to analyze her documents rather than rushing to update every little change.
• Because of the success in the initial filings, the company has since expanded Wdesk into the legal department for Section 16, proxy, and S-8 filings.
• Khadija appreciates the control Wdesk offers. Even if a change is small or happens late in the process, she does it herself with the linked workbook, rather than paying to send it to a printer and waiting for updated documents.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.