WORKIVA INC (WK)
SIC breadcrumb: Services > Business Services > SIC 7372 Services-Prepackaged Software
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1445305. Latest filing source: 0001445305-26-000016.
Informational only - descriptive public-record data, not investment advice.
Business
Read WK's verbatim Item 1 Business section from its latest 10-K: Business.
Risk Factors
Read WK's verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from its latest 10-K: Risk Factors.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 884,568,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
| Net income | -26,169,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
| Assets | 1,493,571,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-19 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-19. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001445305.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 178,646,000 | 207,869,000 | 244,344,000 | 297,891,000 | 351,594,000 | 443,285,000 | 537,875,000 | 630,039,000 | 738,680,000 | 884,568,000 |
| Net income | -43,977,000 | -44,426,000 | -50,071,000 | -47,479,000 | -48,398,000 | -37,730,000 | -90,947,000 | -127,525,000 | -55,042,000 | -26,169,000 |
| Operating income | -43,578,000 | -44,303,000 | -49,788,000 | -45,406,000 | -37,802,000 | -29,355,000 | -88,764,000 | -94,527,000 | -76,534,000 | -42,441,000 |
| Gross profit | 127,021,000 | 147,624,000 | 178,484,000 | 212,879,000 | 261,417,000 | 339,452,000 | 407,990,000 | 475,817,000 | 566,625,000 | 694,138,000 |
| Diluted EPS | -1.03 | -1.00 | -0.74 | -1.72 | -2.36 | -0.99 | -0.47 | |||
| Operating cash flow | -10,369,000 | 5,520,000 | 6,400,000 | 30,918,000 | 33,243,000 | 49,844,000 | 11,334,000 | 70,875,000 | 87,706,000 | 140,070,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 1,901,000 | 1,188,000 | 1,122,000 | 3,104,000 | 1,873,000 | 3,534,000 | 3,458,000 | 2,124,000 | 1,363,000 | 2,075,000 |
| Share buybacks | 0.00 | 0.00 | 71,628,000 | |||||||
| Assets | 143,143,000 | 157,715,000 | 231,111,000 | 638,951,000 | 707,006,000 | 786,759,000 | 819,620,000 | 1,218,860,000 | 1,368,469,000 | 1,493,571,000 |
| Liabilities | 146,268,000 | 174,649,000 | 240,851,000 | 584,749,000 | 642,729,000 | 713,780,000 | 813,637,000 | 1,308,250,000 | 1,410,153,000 | 1,499,007,000 |
| Stockholders' equity | -3,125,000 | -16,934,000 | -9,740,000 | 54,202,000 | 64,277,000 | 72,979,000 | 5,983,000 | -89,390,000 | -41,684,000 | -5,436,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 51,281,000 | 60,333,000 | 77,584,000 | 381,742,000 | 322,831,000 | 300,386,000 | 240,197,000 | 256,100,000 | 301,835,000 | 338,769,000 |
| Free cash flow | -12,270,000 | 4,332,000 | 5,278,000 | 27,814,000 | 31,370,000 | 46,310,000 | 7,876,000 | 68,751,000 | 86,343,000 | 137,995,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | -24.62% | -21.37% | -20.49% | -15.94% | -13.77% | -8.51% | -16.91% | -20.24% | -7.45% | -2.96% |
| Operating margin | -24.39% | -21.31% | -20.38% | -15.24% | -10.75% | -6.62% | -16.50% | -15.00% | -10.36% | -4.80% |
| Return on assets | -30.72% | -28.17% | -21.67% | -7.43% | -6.85% | -4.80% | -11.10% | -10.46% | -4.02% | -1.75% |
| Current ratio | 0.98 | 0.89 | 0.93 | 2.46 | 2.25 | 1.02 | 1.47 | 2.08 | 1.77 | 1.57 |
Industry Peer Context
Net margin peer context
Operating margin peer context
ROA peer context
Financial Bridges
Income statement bridge from reported figures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Revenue: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax; source concepts us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | Gross profit: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept GrossProfit; source concepts us-gaap:GrossProfit | Operating income: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept OperatingIncomeLoss; source concepts us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss | Net income: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept NetIncomeLoss; source concepts us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss
Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Operating cash flow: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | Capital expenditures: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | Free cash flow: accession 0001445305-26-000016; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
Financial Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax. Source concepts: us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: OperatingIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: GrossProfit. Source concepts: us-gaap:GrossProfit.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: Assets. Source concepts: us-gaap:Assets.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: Liabilities. Source concepts: us-gaap:Liabilities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: StockholdersEquity. Source concepts: us-gaap:StockholdersEquity.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue. Source concepts: us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001445305-26-000016; filed 2026-02-19. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-05-05. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001445305.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-Q2 | 2022-06-30 | -0.55 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | -0.56 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | -0.86 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-03-31 | -46,150,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 155,022,000 | -0.39 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-06-30 | -20,910,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 158,175,000 | -1.04 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 166,653,000 | -4,196,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 175,667,000 | -11,687,000 | -0.21 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-03-31 | -11,687,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 177,503,000 | -0.32 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-06-30 | -17,548,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 185,621,000 | -0.31 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 199,889,000 | -8,815,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 206,280,000 | -21,371,000 | -0.38 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-03-31 | -21,371,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 215,187,000 | -0.35 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-06-30 | -19,400,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 224,166,000 | 0.05 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 238,935,000 | 11,816,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 247,306,000 | 18,996,000 | 0.33 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001445305-26-000045; filed 2026-05-05. Concept: RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax. Source concepts: us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001445305-26-000045; filed 2026-05-05. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001445305-26-000045; filed 2026-05-05. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Macro Cross-References
- CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
- UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
- FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
- DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
- DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
- DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
- T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
- CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
- CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
- CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
- CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
- PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
- PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
- PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
- U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
- EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
- UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
- CE16OV - Employment Level
- ICSA - Initial Claims
- JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
- JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
- GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
- A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
- INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
- TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
- PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
- RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
- PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
- PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
- M2SL - M2
- BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
- MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
- HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
- RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
- TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
- RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
- TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product
- GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
- GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
- PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
- GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
- FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
- FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
- FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
- MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
- USCONS - All Employees, Construction
- USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
- USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
- USGOVT - All Employees, Government
- AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
- DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
- NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
- BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
- EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
- IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
- IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
- PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0001445305-26-000045.
Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 2026. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in Part II of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in any subsequent filing we make with the SEC.
Overview
The Workiva platform powers trust, transparency, and accountability. Accounting, finance, sustainability, risk, and audit teams from more than 6,600 organizations worldwide, including over 85% of FORTUNE® 1,000 companies, rely on Workiva for their mission-critical work. We transform how customers connect data, unify processes, and empower teams in a secure, audit-ready, AI-powered, collaborative platform.
From data to disclosure, the Workiva platform empowers customers by connecting and transforming data from hundreds of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”), human capital management (“HCM”), and customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents, presentations, and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy, and productivity. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate, and change their business processes in real time.
While our customers use our platform for more than 100 different use cases, across dozens of vertical industries, we organize our sales and marketing resources into three purpose-built solution groups (financial reporting, sustainability management, and governance, risk and compliance (“GRC”)) focusing primarily on the office of the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), Chief Sustainability Officer (“CSO”), and Chief Audit Executive (“CAE”).
We operate our business on a SaaS model. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,880 at March 31, 2026 from 2,873 at March 31, 2025, an increase of 0.2%.
We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $247.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2026 from $206.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025. We generated net income of $19.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to net loss of $21.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025.
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We continue to invest for future growth and are focused on several key drivers, including our connected AI-powered platform, fit-for-purpose solutions, global expansion, and our partner ecosystem. These growth drivers often require a more sophisticated go-to-market approach and, as a result, we may incur additional costs upfront to obtain new customers and expand our relationships with existing customers, including additional sales and marketing expenses.
Effects of Policy and Regulatory Uncertainty
Sales of our sustainability management solutions have been, and may continue to be, materially impacted by domestic and global policy uncertainties. Shifts in regulatory priorities, market sentiment, and legal challenges to sustainability-related rules and regulations are affecting our market expansion opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. For example, on February 25, 2025, the European Commission unveiled the first “Omnibus” package to advance EU competitiveness and simplification of rules on sustainability. Among other measures, the package proposed streamlining key sustainability frameworks. On December 16, 2025, the European Parliament adopted the Omnibus Directive, which is part of the first Omnibus simplification package. The Council of the European Union formally adopted the resulting directive on February 24, 2026, and the Omnibus Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 26, 2026, entering into force on March 18, 2026. The Omnibus Directive revises scoping thresholds, removes the climate transition plan requirement, and implements targeted amendments across the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”). The adoption resulted in substantive amendments to the CSRD. We believe that the revised thresholds under these amendments have influenced the pace of customer adoption of our sustainability solutions. The potential impact on our growth trajectory of these changes, and of global policy uncertainty generally, cannot be accurately predicted.
Ongoing regulatory initiatives, including proposed changes to SEC reporting requirements intended to reduce burdens on public companies and enhance the attractiveness of capital markets, such as a potential shift in reporting frequency, could affect the performance of certain of our businesses. These developments may have positive or negative impacts on our business, but the scope and timing of any effects remain uncertain. We continue to monitor regulatory developments and assess potential effects across our business. The full scope of these potential regulatory developments, and their implications for our financial performance, cannot be predicted accurately at this time.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with distributed teams of contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals and executives in the areas of financial and non-financial reporting, including regulatory, multi-entity and management reporting. In addition, we market to teams responsible for sustainability management and GRC programs. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
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Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability, together with a strong value proposition and high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add new users, increase revenue and continue to support our high revenue retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA") and Asia-Pacific ("APAC") regions.
Seasonality. Our revenue from professional services has some degree of seasonality. Many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K, often in the first calendar quarter. Our operating cash flow may be affected by the timing of employee cash bonus payments during the first and fourth calendar quarters and by the timing of payouts under our commission plans in the first quarter.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 247,306 | $ | 206,280 | ||
| Percentage increase in total revenue | 19.9 | % | 17.4 | % | ||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 225,355 | $ | 185,512 | ||
| Percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 21.5 | % | 19.7 | % | ||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 91.1 | % | 89.9 | % |
[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","As of March 31,"],["","2026","","2025"],["Operating metrics"],["Number of customers","6,665","","6,385"],["Gross retention rate","97.3%","","97.3%"],["Net retention rate","112.4%","","110.1%"],["Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+","2,575","","2,079"],["Number of customers with annual contract va
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Investors should review the Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information herein. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Section 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
The Workiva platform powers trust, transparency, and accountability. Accounting, finance, sustainability, risk, and audit teams from more than 6,600 organizations worldwide, including over 85% of FORTUNE® 1,000 companies, rely on Workiva for their mission-critical work. We transform how customers connect data, unify processes, and empower teams in a secure, audit-ready, AI-powered, collaborative platform.
From data to disclosure, the Workiva platform empowers customers by connecting and transforming data from hundreds of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”), human capital management (“HCM”), and customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents, presentations, and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy, and productivity. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate, and change their business processes in real time.
While our customers use our platform for more than 100 different use cases, across dozens of vertical industries, we organize our sales and marketing resources into three purpose-built solution groups (financial reporting, sustainability management, and governance, risk and compliance (“GRC”) focusing primarily on the office of the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), Chief Sustainability Officer (“CSO”), and Chief Audit Executive (“CAE”).
We operate our business on a multi-tenant SaaS platform accessible around the world. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,860 at December 31, 2025 from 2,828 at December 31, 2024, an increase of 1.1%.
We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $884.6 million in 2025 from $738.7 million in 2024, an increase of 19.7%. We incurred net losses of $26.2 million and $55.0 million in 2025 and 2024, respectively.
We continue to invest for future growth and are focused on several key drivers, including focusing on multi-solution adoption by new and existing customers, further developing our partner
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program, accelerating global expansion and our fit-for-purpose solutions. These growth drivers often require a more sophisticated go-to-market approach and, as a result, we may incur additional costs upfront to obtain new customers and expand our relationships with existing customers, including additional sales and marketing expenses.
Effects of Policy and Regulatory Uncertainty
Sales of our sustainability management solutions have been, and may continue to be, materially impacted by domestic and global policy uncertainties. Shifts in regulatory priorities, market sentiment, and legal challenges to sustainability-related rules and regulations are affecting our market expansion opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. For example, on February 25, 2025, the European Commission unveiled the first “Omnibus” package to advance EU competitiveness and simplification of rules on sustainability. Among other measures, the package proposed streamlining key sustainability frameworks. On December 16, 2025, the European Parliament adopted the Detailed Omnibus Directive, which is part of the first Omnibus simplification package. The Detailed Omnibus Directive revises scoping thresholds, removes the climate transition plan requirement, and implements targeted amendments across the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”). It is expected that the adoption is likely to result in substantive amendments to the CSRD. We believe that the revised thresholds under these expected amendments have influenced the pace of customer adoption of our sustainability solutions. The potential impact on our growth trajectory of these changes, and of global policy uncertainty generally, cannot be accurately predicted.
Ongoing regulatory initiatives, including proposed changes to SEC reporting requirements intended to reduce burdens on public companies and enhance the attractiveness of capital markets, such as a potential shift in reporting frequency, could affect the performance of certain of our businesses. These developments may have positive or negative impacts on our business, but the scope and timing of any effects remain uncertain. We continue to monitor regulatory developments and assess potential effects across our business. The full scope of these potential regulatory developments, and their implications for our financial performance, cannot be predicted accurately at this time.
Effects of Volatility in the IPO/SPAC Markets
In the U.S., volatility in the public markets has led to a decrease in the number of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and special-purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) since fiscal 2022. New sales of our SEC and capital markets solutions were adversely affected by this decline in the IPO and SPAC markets. Although there has been an increase recently in the number of IPOs in 2025, we continue to expect reduced valuation multiples caused by higher interest rates, inflation, global trade conflicts and geopolitical instability to continue to create uncertain impacts on the number of IPOs in fiscal year 2026. Whether and to what extent the IPO and SPAC markets will continue to moderate cannot be accurately predicted.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
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Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with distributed teams of contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals and executives in the areas of financial and non-financial reporting, including regulatory, multi-entity and management reporting. In addition, we market to teams responsible for sustainability management and GRC programs. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability, together with a strong value proposition and high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add new users, increase revenue and continue to support our high revenue retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA") and Asia-Pacific ("APAC") regions.
Seasonality. Seasonality affects our revenue, expenses and cash flows from operations. Revenue from professional services is generally higher in the first quarter as many of our customers file their 10-K in the first calendar quarter. As of December 31, 2025, the majority of our SEC customers reported their financials on a calendar-year basis. Our sales and marketing expense also has some degree of seasonality. Sales and marketing expense has historically been higher in the third quarter due to our annual user conference in September. In addition, our operating cash flow may be affected by the timing of employee cash bonus payments during the first and fourth calendar quarters and by the timing of payouts under our commission plans in the first quarter.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 884,568 | $ | 738,680 | $ | 630,039 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in total revenue | 19.7% | 17.2% | 17.1% | |||||||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 812,627 | $ | 667,646 | $ | 558,645 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 21.7% | 19.5% | 20.2% | |||||||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 91.9% | 90.4% | 88.7% |
| As of December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||
| Operating metrics | |||||||
| Number of customers | 6,624 | 6,305 | 6,034 | ||||
| Gross retention rate | 97.2% | 97.4% | 97.9% | ||||
| Net retention rate | 112.8% | 111.9% | 110.3% | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+ | 2,507 | 2,055 | 1,631 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $300k+ | 592 | 416 | 311 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $500k+ | 248 | 181 | 137 |
Total customers. We believe total number of customers is a key indicator of our financial success and future revenue potential. We define a customer as an entity with an active subscription contract as of the measurement date. Our customer is typically a parent company or, in a few cases, a significant subsidiary that works with us directly. Companies with publicly-listed securities account for a substantial majority of our customers. As customers acquired through our Sustain.Life acquisition in 2024 renew their contracts with Workiva, they are added to our customer count above.
Gross retention rate. Our gross retention rate is based on subscription and support revenue. We calculate our gross retention rate based on all customers that were active at the end of the same calendar quarter of the prior year (“base customers”). We begin by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the same calendar quarter of the prior year for those base customers who are still active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers. We believe gross retention rates are an important metric to track how the Company retains its base revenue for each year.
Our gross retention rate was 97.2% as of December 31, 2025, down slightly from 97.4% as of December 31, 2024. We believe that our success in maintaining a high rate of retention is attributable primarily to our robust technology platform and strong customer service. Customers whose securities were deregistered due to merger or acquisition or financial distress accounted for just over half of our revenue attrition in the latest quarter.
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Net retention rate. Our net retention rate is based on subscription and support revenue, and includes revenue from up-selling or cross-selling additional solutions, and pricing changes for existing customers and securing multi-year contracts renewals containing periodic pricing term increases. We calculate our net retention rate by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the current quarter for our base customers that were active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers. We believe our net retention rate is an important metric to measure the long-term value of customer agreements and our ability to retain our customers.
Our net retention rate was 112.8% as of the year ended December 31, 2025, up from 111.9% as of December 31, 2024.
Annual contract value. Our annual contract value (“ACV”) for each customer is calculated by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recognized during each quarter. We believe the increase in the number of larger contracts shows our progress in expanding our customers’ adoption of our platform. As customers acquired through our Sustain.Life acquisition in 2024 renew their contracts with Workiva, they are incorporated into our ACV metrics in the following table.
| Year ended December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $100k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 76.8% | 71.2% | 66.3% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $300k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 41.1% | 35.7% | 31.7% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $500k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 27.4% | 23.9% | 21.5% |
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions to our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. We serve a wide range of customers in many industries, and our revenue is not concentrated with any single customer or small group of customers. For each of the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, no single customer represented more than 1% of our revenue, and our largest 10 customers accounted for less than 10% of our revenue in the aggregate.
We generate sales directly through our sales force and partners. We also identify some sales opportunities with existing customers through our customer success and professional services teams.
Our customer contracts typically range in length from 12 to 36 months. We typically invoice our customers for subscription fees annually in advance. For contracts with a two or three year term, customers sometimes elect to pay the entire multi-year subscription term in advance. Our arrangements do not contain general rights of return.
Subscription and Support Revenue. We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Amounts that are invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue.
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Professional Services Revenue. We believe our professional services facilitate the sale of our subscription service to certain customers. To date, most of our professional services have consisted of document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting to help our customers with business processes and best practices for using our platform. Our professional services are not required for customers to utilize our solution. We recognize revenue for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists primarily of personnel and related costs directly associated with our professional services, customer success teams and training personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; the costs of contracted third-party vendors; the costs of server usage by our customers; information technology costs; and facility costs. Costs of server usage are comprised primarily of fees paid to Amazon Web Services.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, commissions, travel, and stock-based compensation. Other costs included in this expense are marketing and promotional events, our annual user conference, online marketing, product marketing, information technology costs, and facility costs. We pay sales commissions for initial contracts and expansions of existing customer contracts. When the relevant amortization period is one year or less, we expense sales commissions as incurred. All other sales commissions are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be three years.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; costs of server usage by our developers; information technology costs; and facility costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs for our executive, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; legal, accounting, and other professional service fees; other corporate expenses; information technology costs; and facility costs.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the periods indicated:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 812,627 | $ | 667,646 | $ | 558,645 | ||||
| Professional services | 71,941 | 71,034 | 71,394 | |||||||
| Total revenue | 884,568 | 738,680 | 630,039 | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support(1) | 136,645 | 118,697 | 99,193 | |||||||
| Professional services(1) | 53,785 | 53,358 | 55,029 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 190,430 | 172,055 | 154,222 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 694,138 | 566,625 | 475,817 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development(1) | 214,844 | 192,935 | 172,790 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 408,872 | 347,243 | 287,035 | |||||||
| General and administrative(1) | 112,863 | 102,981 | 110,519 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 736,579 | 643,159 | 570,344 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (42,441) | (76,534) | (94,527) | |||||||
| Interest income | 34,153 | 39,395 | 25,882 | |||||||
| Interest expense | (12,777) | (12,865) | (53,639) | |||||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (1,350) | 563 | (1,814) | |||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (22,415) | (49,441) | (124,098) | |||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 3,754 | 5,601 | 3,427 | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (26,169) | $ | (55,042) | $ | (127,525) |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in these line items was as follows:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 10,271 | $ | 7,979 | $ | 5,030 | ||||
| Professional services | 4,261 | 3,221 | 2,540 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 28,867 | 21,036 | 18,441 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 42,108 | 35,339 | 27,774 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 37,438 | 34,575 | 44,980 | |||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 122,945 | $ | 102,150 | $ | 98,765 |
The following table sets forth our consolidated statement of operations data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 91.9% | 90.4% | 88.7% | |||||
| Professional services | 8.1 | 9.6 | 11.3 | |||||
| Total revenue | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 15.4 | 16.1 | 15.7 | |||||
| Professional services | 6.1 | 7.2 | 8.7 | |||||
| Total cost of revenue | 21.5 | 23.3 | 24.4 | |||||
| Gross profit | 78.5 | 76.7 | 75.6 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 24.3 | 26.1 | 27.4 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 46.2 | 47.0 | 45.6 | |||||
| General and administrative | 12.8 | 13.9 | 17.5 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 83.3 | 87.0 | 90.5 | |||||
| Loss from operations | (4.8) | (10.3) | (14.9) | |||||
| Interest income | 3.9 | 5.3 | 4.1 | |||||
| Interest expense | (1.4) | (1.7) | (8.5) | |||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (0.2) | 0.1 | (0.3) | |||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (2.5) | (6.6) | (19.6) | |||||
| Provision for income taxes | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | |||||
| Net loss | (2.9) | % | (7.4) | % | (20.1) | % |
Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 812,627 | $ | 667,646 | $ | 144,981 | 21.7% | ||||||
| Professional services | 71,941 | 71,034 | 907 | 1.3% | |||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 884,568 | $ | 738,680 | $ | 145,888 | 19.7% |
Total revenue increased $145.9 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to a $145.0 million increase in subscription and support revenue. Growth in subscription and support revenue in 2025 was attributable mainly to strong demand and continued solution expansion across our customer base. The total number of our customers increased 5.1% from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2025. Revenue from professional services was relatively flat in 2025 compared to 2024. We continue to transition consulting and other services to our partners and expect the revenue growth rate from subscription and support to continue to outpace revenue growth from professional services on an annual basis.
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Cost of Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 136,645 | $ | 118,697 | $ | 17,948 | 15.1% | ||||||
| Professional services | 53,785 | 53,358 | 427 | 0.8% | |||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | $ | 190,430 | $ | 172,055 | $ | 18,375 | 10.7% |
Cost of revenue increased $18.4 million in 2025 compared to 2024. Subscription and support cost of revenue increased $17.9 million due primarily to $11.1 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs, $2.3 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $3.3 million increase in the cost of licensed platform content, a $1.0 million increase in intangibles amortization, and a $0.7 million increase in software expense, partially offset by a $0.7 million decrease in travel expense. The increase in compensation was primarily driven by normal compensation increases for existing headcount and includes a benefit for our transition from a paid-time-off (“PTO”) model to a flexible-time-off (“FTO”) model which was announced in the second half of the year. The increases in the cost of licensed platform content and software expense resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. Professional services cost of revenue increased $0.4 million due primarily to $1.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, partially offset by a $0.4 million decrease in cash-based compensation and benefits costs. The change in compensation was primarily driven by standard compensation increases for existing headcount partially offset by our continued transition of consulting and other services to our partners.
Operating Expenses
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 214,844 | $ | 192,935 | $ | 21,909 | 11.4% | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 408,872 | 347,243 | 61,629 | 17.7% | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 112,863 | 102,981 | 9,882 | 9.6% | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 736,579 | $ | 643,159 | $ | 93,420 | 14.5% |
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased $21.9 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to $14.8 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits and $7.8 million of additional stock-based compensation, partially offset by a $0.8 million decrease in the cost of cloud infrastructure services. The increase in compensation was primarily driven by a modest increase in employee headcount, an executive transition and a benefit for our transition from a PTO model to an FTO model which was announced in the second half of the year.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $61.6 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to $49.2 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $6.7 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $1.5 million increase in marketing and advertising, a $2.6 million increase in professional service fees, a $1.3 million increase in internal event costs, and a $1.2 million in software expense. The increases in compensation and internal event costs were primarily due to an increase in employee headcount as we continue to invest in our go-to-market activities, as well as an executive transition and a benefit for our transition from a PTO model to an FTO model which was announced in the second half of the year. The increases in marketing and advertising, professional service fees, and software expense were the result of our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased $9.9 million in 2025 compared to 2024, due primarily to $5.0 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $3.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, and a $2.6 million increase in internal event costs, partially offset by a $0.7 million decrease in travel expense. The increase in compensation was primarily driven by normal compensation increases for existing headcount, an executive transition, and a benefit for our transition from a PTO model to an FTO model which was announced in the second half of the year. The increase in internal event costs was due to a new internal event held in the second quarter.
Non-Operating Income (Expenses)
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | Amount | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 34,153 | $ | 39,395 | $ | (5,242) | ||||
| Interest expense | (12,777) | (12,865) | 88 | |||||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (1,350) | 563 | (1,913) |
Interest income decreased $5.2 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to lower interest rates. Interest expense remained relatively flat compared to the same period a year ago. Other expense, net increased $1.9 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to losses on foreign currency transactions.
Results of Operations for Fiscal 2024 Compared to 2023
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on February 25, 2025.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview of Sources and Uses of Cash
As of December 31, 2025, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $891.6 million, which were held for working capital purposes. We have financed our operations primarily through cash generated from operations and issuances of convertible debt. We have generated significant operating losses as reflected in our accumulated deficit on our consolidated balance sheets. While we may incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operations in the future, we believe that current cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months and beyond.
Convertible Debt
In August 2023, we issued $702.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.250% convertible senior notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”). Proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Notes totaled $691.1 million, net of initial purchaser discounts and issuance costs. We used $396.9 million of the net proceeds from the 2028 Notes offering to repurchase $273.8 million principal amount, together with accrued and unpaid interest thereon, of our 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) in separate and individually negotiated transactions with certain holders. As of December 31, 2025, we had outstanding debt relating to our 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes of $71.1 million and $696.3 million, with corresponding maturity dates of August 15, 2026 and August 15, 2028, respectively.
Share Repurchase Plan
On August 1, 2024, we announced that on July 30, 2024, our board of directors authorized a share repurchase plan for up to $100.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock (the “2024 Repurchase Plan”).
During the fourth quarter of 2025, Workiva purchased approximately 131,000 shares for $11.5 million under the 2024 Repurchase Plan. As of December 31, 2025, approximately $28 million remained available under the plan for future share repurchases. On February 16, 2026, our board of directors modified the 2024 Repurchase Plan to authorize an additional $250 million of the Company’s outstanding Class A common stock for repurchase under the plan. The timing, manner, price and amount of any repurchases will be determined at the Company’s discretion, and the share repurchase program may be suspended, terminated or modified at any time for any reason. Shares may be repurchased through open market purchases in accordance with the requirements of Exchange Act Rule 10b-18, or privately negotiated transactions, including through the use of trading plans intended to qualify under Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes cash flow activity during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Cash flow provided by operating activities | $ | 140,070 | $ | 87,706 | $ | 70,875 | ||||
| Cash flow used in investing activities | (34,952) | (45,249) | (357,253) | |||||||
| Cash flow (used in) provided by financing activities | (74,944) | 6,741 | 301,265 | |||||||
| Net increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, net of impact of exchange rates | $ | 37,131 | $ | 45,629 | $ | 16,524 |
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Operating Activities
Our largest source of operating cash is cash collections from customers for subscription and support access to our platform. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities are for personnel-related expenditures, marketing activities, and costs of cloud infrastructure services.
Cash provided by operating activities of $140.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 consisted of a net loss of $26.2 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $130.6 million and net cash inflows of $35.6 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities. The increase in deferred revenue was primarily due to timing of billings and growth in our customer base.
Cash provided by operating activities of $87.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of a net loss of $55.0 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $103.2 million and net cash inflows of $39.6 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities. The increase in deferred revenue was primarily due to customer growth. The increase in deferred costs was primarily due to growth in subscription bookings and commission plan achievement at year-end.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of $35.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 consisted of $425.5 million in purchases of marketable securities and $2.1 million in purchases of fixed assets partially offset by $390.5 million from the maturities of marketable securities and $2.5 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of our work force.
Cash used in investing activities of $45.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of $402.2 million in purchases of marketable securities, $98.1 million for the acquisition of Sustain.Life, and $1.4 million in purchases of fixed assets partially offset by $452.0 million from the maturities of marketable securities and $4.6 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities of $74.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 consisted of $71.6 million in repurchases of our Class A common stock under the 2024 Repurchase Plan and $22.7 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards partially offset by $13.7 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) and $6.2 million in proceeds from option exercises.
Cash provided by financing activities of $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of $13.8 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our ESPP and $4.9 million in proceeds from option exercises partially offset by $11.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards.
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Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2025, aggregated by type:
| Payments due by period | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Convertible senior notes | $ | 800,369 | $ | 80,819 | $ | 719,550 | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||
| Operating leases including imputed interest | 18,384 | 6,525 | 8,796 | 1,160 | 1,903 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance leases, including interest | 20,457 | 1,353 | 2,707 | 2,708 | 13,689 | ||||||||||||||
| Other contractual commitments | 121,379 | 37,351 | 57,028 | 27,000 | — | ||||||||||||||
| Total contractual obligations | $ | 960,589 | $ | 126,048 | $ | 788,081 | $ | 30,868 | $ | 15,592 |
Total future payments related to our convertible senior notes shown in the table above includes $773.2 million aggregate principal amount and future interest payments associated with the Notes of $27.1 million. For more information on our convertible senior notes, refer to Note 8 of our accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We lease certain office space, residential space, buildings and land with various lease terms which are primarily accounted for as operating leases. We have entered into a lease agreement for land and an office building in Ames, Iowa, which was constructed in two phases, and is accounted for as a finance lease. The lease term includes an initial 15-year term and three five-year extensions at our option because renewal was determined to be reasonably assured at the inception of the lease. The lease contains purchase options to acquire the landlord’s interest in the land lease and building at any time beginning three years from June 2014 (the commencement date of the second phase of the lease). In addition, the lease requires us to purchase the building from the landlord upon certain events, such as a change in control.
We enter into certain non-cancelable agreements with third-party providers in the ordinary course of business. Our total commitments under these agreements are $121.4 million and are primarily for cloud infrastructure and cloud services. These amounts are included in the table above under other contractual commitments.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, provision for income taxes and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of our operations.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation
Subscription and Support Revenue
We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts are generally 12 to 36 months in duration, are billed either annually or in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.
Professional Services Revenue and Customer Options
Professional services revenues primarily consist of fees for document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting with our customers on business processes and best practices for using our platform. We have determined that an agreement to purchase these professional services constitutes an option to purchase services in accordance with ASC 606 rather than an agreement that creates enforceable rights and obligations because of the customer’s contractual right to cancel services that have not yet been used. In the limited case of agreements where we determined that the option provides the customer with a material right, we allocate a portion of the transaction price to the material right based upon the relative standalone selling price. Professional service agreements that do not contain a material right are accounted for when the customer exercises its option to purchase additional services.
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Revenue is recognized for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations
Some of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price basis. We determine the standalone selling prices based on our overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and entity-specific factors, including the value of our arrangements, length of term, customer demographics and the numbers and types of users within our arrangements.
While changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements of the arrangement could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period, these changes have not historically been significant because our recurring revenue is primarily subscription and support revenue.
Acquisitions
We account for acquisitions under Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations. In general, the acquisition method of accounting requires companies to record assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their respective fair market values at the date of acquisition. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margins, and discount rates. We engage the assistance of third-party valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements in connection with determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Any amount of the purchase price paid that is in excess of the estimated fair values of net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill in our consolidated balance sheets. Transaction costs, as well as costs to reorganize acquired companies, are expensed as incurred in our consolidated statement of operations.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 of the notes to consolidated financial statements for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements.
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MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. The latest 10-K appears above; prior years are below.
FY 2024 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001445305-25-000034.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Section 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
Workiva’s mission is to power transparent reporting for a better world. We believe that all stakeholders including consumers, employees, shareholders, and regulators expect more from business – more action, transparency, and disclosure of financial and non-financial information. We build solutions to meet that demand and streamline processes, connect data and teams, and ensure consistency – all within the Workiva platform, the world’s leading cloud platform for assured integrated reporting. Additionally, we offer the only unified software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) platform that brings customers’ financial reporting, sustainability management, and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (“GRC”) together in a controlled, secure, audit-ready platform.
From data to disclosure, the Workiva platform empowers customers by connecting and transforming data from hundreds of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”), human capital management (“HCM”), and customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents, presentations, and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy, and productivity. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate, and change their business processes in real time.
Workiva provides more than 6,300 organizations across the globe with SaaS platform solutions to help solve some of the most complex reporting and disclosure challenges. While our customers use our platform for more than 100 different use cases, across dozens of vertical industries, we organize our sales and marketing resources into three purpose-built solution groups (financial reporting, sustainability management, and GRC) focusing primarily on the office of the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), Chief Sustainability Officer (“CSO”), and Chief Audit Executive (“CAE”).
We operate our business on a SaaS model. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,828 at December 31, 2024 from 2,526 at December 31, 2023, an increase of 12.0%.
We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $738.7 million in 2024 from $630.0 million in 2023, an increase of 17.2%. We incurred net losses of $55.0 million and $127.5 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
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We continue to invest for future growth and are focused on several key drivers, including focusing on multi-solution adoption by new and existing customers, further developing our partner program, accelerating international expansion and our fit-for-purpose solutions. These growth drivers often require a more sophisticated go-to-market approach and, as a result, we may incur additional costs upfront to obtain new customers and expand our relationships with existing customers, including additional sales and marketing expenses.
Effects of Policy Uncertainty on Sales of Sustainability Solutions
Sales of our sustainability management solutions, including Workiva Carbon Reporting, could be materially impacted by domestic and global policy uncertainties. Risks relating to shifts in regulatory priorities and newly emerging trends due to changes in the U.S. presidential administration, and the outcome of other global elections, and risks relating to legal challenges to sustainability-related rules and regulations, may affect our market expansion opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. For example, amendments to the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) standards used to identify and collect the information and data, with different implementation dates depending on the company size and geographic location, are still developing and uncertain. That regulatory uncertainty could limit compliance obligations or requirements, could slow market adoption and may reduce or delay the growth of our sustainability solutions. The extent of this policy uncertainty, and its potential impact on our growth trajectory, cannot be accurately predicted.
Effects of Volatility in the IPO/SPAC Markets
In the U.S., volatility in the public markets led to a decrease in the number of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and special-purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) since fiscal 2022. New sales of our SEC and capital markets solutions were adversely affected by this decline in the IPO and SPAC markets. We expect reduced valuation multiples caused by higher interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical instability to create an uncertain impact on the number of IPOs in fiscal year 2025. Whether and to what extent the IPO and SPAC markets will moderate cannot be accurately predicted.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with distributed teams of contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals and executives in the areas of financial and non-financial reporting, including regulatory, multi-entity and performance reporting. In addition, we market to teams responsible for environmental, social and governance reporting, and governance, risk and compliance programs. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
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Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability; a strong value proposition; and a high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add seats and revenue and continue to support our high retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in EMEA and APAC.
Seasonality. Our revenue from professional services has some degree of seasonality. Many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K, often in the first calendar quarter. As of December 31, 2024, the majority of our SEC customers reported their financials on a calendar-year basis. Our sales and marketing expense also has some degree of seasonality. Sales and marketing expense has historically been higher in the third quarter due to our annual user conference in September. In addition, the timing of the payments of cash bonuses to employees during the first and fourth calendar quarters may result in some seasonality in operating cash flow.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 738,680 | $ | 630,039 | $ | 537,875 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in total revenue | 17.2% | 17.1% | 21.3% | |||||||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 667,646 | $ | 558,645 | $ | 464,935 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 19.5% | 20.2% | 22.6% | |||||||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 90.4% | 88.7% | 86.4% |
| As of December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| Operating metrics | |||||||
| Number of customers | 6,305 | 6,034 | 5,664 | ||||
| Gross retention rate | 97.4% | 97.9% | 97.8% | ||||
| Net retention rate | 111.9% | 110.3% | 108.5% | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+ | 2,055 | 1,631 | 1,345 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $300k+ | 416 | 311 | 236 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $500k+ | 181 | 137 | 101 |
Total customers. We believe total number of customers is a key indicator of our financial success and future revenue potential. We define a customer as an entity with an active subscription contract as of the measurement date. Our customer is typically a parent company or, in a few cases, a significant subsidiary that works with us directly. Companies with publicly-listed securities account for a substantial majority of our customers. As customers acquired through our Sustain.Life acquisition in 2024 renew their contracts with Workiva, they are added to our customer count above.
Gross retention rate. Our gross retention rate is based on subscription and support revenue. We calculate our gross retention rate based on all customers that were active at the end of the same calendar quarter of the prior year (“base customers”). We begin by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the same calendar quarter of the prior year for those base customers who are still active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers. We believe gross retention rates are an important metric to track how the Company retains its base revenue for each year.
Our gross retention rate was 97.4% as of December 31, 2024, down from 97.9% as of December 31, 2023. We believe that our success in maintaining a high rate of retention is attributable primarily to our robust technology platform and strong customer service. Customers whose securities were deregistered due to merger or acquisition or financial distress accounted for just under half of our revenue attrition in the latest quarter.
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Net retention rate. Our net retention rate is based on subscription and support revenue, and includes revenue from up-selling or cross-selling additional solutions, and pricing changes for existing customers and securing multi-year contracts renewals containing periodic pricing term increases. We calculate our net retention rate by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the current quarter for our base customers that were active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers. We believe our net retention rate is an important metric to measure the long-term value of customer agreements and our ability to retain our customers.
Our net retention rate was 111.9% as of the year ended December 31, 2024, up from 110.3% as of December 31, 2023.
Annual contract value. Our annual contract value (“ACV”) for each customer is calculated by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recognized during each quarter. We believe the increase in the number of larger contracts shows our progress in expanding our customers’ adoption of our platform. As customers acquired through our Sustain.Life acquisition in 2024 renew their contracts with Workiva, they are incorporated into our ACV metrics in the following table.
| Year ended December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $100k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 71.2% | 66.3% | 62.1% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $300k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 35.7% | 31.7% | 27.6% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $500k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 23.9% | 21.5% | 9.6% |
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions to our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. We serve a wide range of customers in many industries, and our revenue is not concentrated with any single customer or small group of customers. For each of the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, no single customer represented more than 1% of our revenue, and our largest 10 customers accounted for less than 10% of our revenue in the aggregate.
We generate sales directly through our sales force and partners. We also identify some sales opportunities with existing customers through our customer success and professional services teams.
Our customer contracts typically range in length from twelve to 36 months. We typically invoice our customers for subscription fees annually in advance. For contracts with a two or three year term, customers sometimes elect to pay the entire multi-year subscription term in advance. Our arrangements do not contain general rights of return.
Subscription and Support Revenue. We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Amounts that are invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue.
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Professional Services Revenue. We believe our professional services facilitate the sale of our subscription service to certain customers. To date, most of our professional services have consisted of document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting to help our customers with business processes and best practices for using our platform. Our professional services are not required for customers to utilize our solution. We recognize revenue for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists primarily of personnel and related costs directly associated with our professional services, customer success teams and training personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; the costs of contracted third-party vendors; the costs of server usage by our customers; information technology costs; and facility costs. Costs of server usage are comprised primarily of fees paid to Amazon Web Services.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, commissions, travel, and stock-based compensation. Other costs included in this expense are marketing and promotional events, our annual user conference, online marketing, product marketing, information technology costs, and facility costs. We pay sales commissions for initial contracts and expansions of existing customer contracts. When the relevant amortization period is one year or less, we expense sales commissions as incurred. All other sales commissions are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be three years.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; costs of server usage by our developers; information technology costs; and facility costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs for our executive, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, travel and stock-based compensation; legal, accounting, and other professional service fees; other corporate expenses; information technology costs; and facility costs.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the periods indicated:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 667,646 | $ | 558,645 | $ | 464,935 | ||||
| Professional services | 71,034 | 71,394 | 72,940 | |||||||
| Total revenue | 738,680 | 630,039 | 537,875 | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support(1) | 118,697 | 99,193 | 77,711 | |||||||
| Professional services(1) | 53,358 | 55,029 | 52,174 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 172,055 | 154,222 | 129,885 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 566,625 | 475,817 | 407,990 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development(1) | 192,935 | 172,790 | 151,716 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 347,243 | 287,035 | 245,260 | |||||||
| General and administrative(1) | 102,981 | 110,519 | 99,778 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 643,159 | 570,344 | 496,754 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (76,534) | (94,527) | (88,764) | |||||||
| Interest income | 39,395 | 25,882 | 4,880 | |||||||
| Interest expense | (12,865) | (53,639) | (6,042) | |||||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 563 | (1,814) | 926 | |||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (49,441) | (124,098) | (89,000) | |||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 5,601 | 3,427 | 1,947 | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (55,042) | $ | (127,525) | $ | (90,947) |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in these line items was as follows:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 7,979 | $ | 5,030 | $ | 3,437 | ||||
| Professional services | 3,221 | 2,540 | 2,128 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 21,036 | 18,441 | 12,554 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 35,339 | 27,774 | 19,323 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 34,575 | 44,980 | 33,218 | |||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 102,150 | $ | 98,765 | $ | 70,660 |
The following table sets forth our consolidated statement of operations data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 90.4% | 88.7% | 86.4% | |||||
| Professional services | 9.6 | 11.3 | 13.6 | |||||
| Total revenue | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 16.1 | 15.7 | 14.4 | |||||
| Professional services | 7.2 | 8.7 | 9.7 | |||||
| Total cost of revenue | 23.3 | 24.4 | 24.1 | |||||
| Gross profit | 76.7 | 75.6 | 75.9 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 26.1 | 27.4 | 28.2 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 47.0 | 45.6 | 45.6 | |||||
| General and administrative | 13.9 | 17.5 | 18.6 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 87.0 | 90.5 | 92.4 | |||||
| Loss from operations | (10.3) | (14.9) | (16.5) | |||||
| Interest income | 5.3 | 4.1 | 0.9 | |||||
| Interest expense | (1.7) | (8.5) | (1.1) | |||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 0.1 | (0.3) | 0.2 | |||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (6.6) | (19.6) | (16.5) | |||||
| Provision for income taxes | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | |||||
| Net loss | (7.4) | % | (20.1) | % | (16.9) | % |
Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 667,646 | $ | 558,645 | $ | 109,001 | 19.5% | ||||||
| Professional services | 71,034 | 71,394 | (360) | (0.5)% | |||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 738,680 | $ | 630,039 | $ | 108,641 | 17.2% |
Total revenue increased $108.6 million in 2024 compared to 2023 due primarily to a $109.0 million increase in subscription and support revenue. Growth in subscription and support revenue in 2024 was attributable mainly to strong demand and continued solution expansion across our customer base. The total number of our customers increased 4.5% from December 31, 2023 to December 31, 2024. Revenue from professional services was relatively flat in 2024 compared to 2023. We continue to transition consulting and other services to our partners and expect the revenue growth rate from subscription and support to continue to outpace revenue growth from professional services on an annual basis.
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Cost of Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 118,697 | $ | 99,193 | $ | 19,504 | 19.7% | ||||||
| Professional services | 53,358 | 55,029 | (1,671) | (3.0)% | |||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | $ | 172,055 | $ | 154,222 | $ | 17,833 | 11.6% |
Cost of revenue increased $17.8 million in 2024 compared to 2023. Subscription and support cost of revenue increased $19.5 million due primarily to $12.6 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs due in part to increased headcount, $3.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $0.6 million increase in travel expense, and a $1.5 million increase in software expense. The increases in compensation and software expense resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in travel expense was due to a general increase in travel driven by an increase in employee headcount. Amortization of acquired intangible assets for Sustain.Life was $1.1 million. Professional services cost of revenue decreased $1.7 million due primarily to a $1.8 million decrease in cash-based compensation and benefits costs and a $0.6 million decrease in professional service fees, partially offset by $0.7 million of additional stock-based compensation as we continue to transition consulting and other services to our partners.
Operating Expenses
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 192,935 | $ | 172,790 | $ | 20,145 | 11.7% | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 347,243 | 287,035 | 60,208 | 21.0% | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 102,981 | 110,519 | (7,538) | (6.8)% | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 643,159 | $ | 570,344 | $ | 72,815 | 12.8% |
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased $20.1 million in 2024 compared to 2023 due primarily to $13.9 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs, $2.6 million of additional stock-based compensation, and a $3.0 million increase in professional service fees. During 2024 we recognized an additional $1.0 million in cash-based and stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance obligations. The remaining increase in compensation was primarily due to a modest increase in employee headcount. The increases in professional service fees resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $60.2 million in 2024 compared to 2023 due primarily to $36.0 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs, $7.6 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $4.9 million increase in travel expense, a $5.5 million increase in professional service fees, and a $5.4 million increase in marketing and advertising. During 2024 we recognized an additional $2.2 million in cash-based and stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance obligations. The remaining increase in compensation, as well as the increase in software expense and travel, were primarily due to an increase in employee headcount as we continue to invest in our go-to-market activities. The increases in professional service fees and marketing and advertising were the result of our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses decreased $7.5 million in 2024 compared to 2023, due primarily to a $10.5 million decrease in stock-based compensation partially offset by a $2.9 million increase in professional service fees. In addition, during 2023 we recorded a one-time benefit of $1.0 million related to a goods and services tax refund as well as one-time fees of $0.6 million related to event cancellations which did not recur in 2024. The decrease in stock-based compensation is primarily due to the recognition of $1.4 million and $18.1 million in cash-based and stock-based compensation, respectively, pursuant to certain transition agreements with former executives during the first quarter of 2023 which did not recur in 2024, partially offset by a modest increase in employee headcount and an increase in performance-based restricted stock expense driven by additional performance-based restricted stock awards issued to executives in 2024 and changes in the assumptions associated with the attainment of company-specific performance targets. The increase in professional service fees was primarily due to costs incurred to acquire Sustain.Life.
Non-Operating Income (Expenses)
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | Amount | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 39,395 | $ | 25,882 | $ | 13,513 | ||||
| Interest expense | (12,865) | (53,639) | 40,774 | |||||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 563 | (1,814) | 2,377 |
Interest income increased $13.5 million in 2024 compared to 2023 due primarily to an increase in our investment balance, facilitated by the issuance of our 2028 convertible notes (the "2028 Notes"), coupled with higher interest rates. We recorded a $45.1 million loss on induced conversion from the partial repurchase of our 2026 Notes in the third quarter of 2023 which did not recur in 2024 and contributed primarily to the decrease in interest expense compared to the same period a year ago. Other income and (expense), net increased $2.4 million in 2024 compared to 2023 due primarily to gains on foreign currency transactions as well as losses on the sale of available-for-sale securities from 2023 which did not recur in 2024.
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Results of Operations for Fiscal 2023 Compared to 2022
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview of Sources and Uses of Cash
As of December 31, 2024, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $816.4 million, which were held for working capital purposes. We have financed our operations primarily through cash generated from operations and issuances of convertible debt. We have generated significant operating losses as reflected in our accumulated deficit and consolidated statements of cash flows. While we expect to continue to incur operating losses and may incur negative cash flows from operations in the future, we believe that current cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of the issuance of the audited consolidated financial statements.
Convertible Debt
In August 2023, we issued $702.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.250% convertible senior notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”). Proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Notes totaled $691.1 million, net of initial purchaser discounts and issuance costs. We used $396.9 million of the net proceeds from the 2028 Notes offering to repurchase $273.8 million principal amount, together with accrued and unpaid interest thereon, of our 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) in separate and individually negotiated transactions with certain holders. As of December 31, 2024, we had outstanding debt relating to our 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes of $70.8 million and $694.1 million, with corresponding maturity dates of August 15, 2026 and August 15, 2028, respectively.
Share Repurchase Plan
On July 30, 2024, our board of directors authorized a share repurchase program for up to $100.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock (the “2024 Repurchase Plan”). The repurchases may be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 trading plans or other available means, each in compliance with Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act. The timing, manner, price, and amount of the repurchase will be subject to the discretion of the Company’s management, and it may be suspended or discontinued at any time. As of December 31, 2024, we have not made any repurchases under the 2024 Repurchase Plan.
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Cash Flows
The following table summarizes cash flow activity during the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| Cash flow provided by operating activities | $ | 87,706 | $ | 70,875 | $ | 11,334 | ||||
| Cash flow used in investing activities | (45,249) | (357,253) | (68,012) | |||||||
| Cash flow provided by (used in) financing activities | 6,741 | 301,265 | (1,587) | |||||||
| Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, net of impact of exchange rates | $ | 45,629 | $ | 16,524 | $ | (60,189) |
Operating Activities
Our largest source of operating cash is cash collections from customers for subscription and support access to our platform. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities are for personnel-related expenditures, marketing activities, and costs of cloud infrastructure services.
Cash provided by operating activities of $87.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of a net loss of $55.0 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $103.2 million and net cash inflows of $39.6 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities. The change in operating assets and liabilities was driven by an increase in deferred revenue which was primarily due to timing of billings and growth in our customer base. The increase in deferred costs was primarily due to growth in subscription bookings and commission plan achievement at year-end. The increases in accounts receivable, other assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses and other liabilities, as well as the decreases in other receivables and prepaid expenses and other assets were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments.
Cash provided by operating activities of $70.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of a net loss of $127.5 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $105.0 million and net cash inflows of $48.2 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities. The adjustments for non-cash charges included a $45.1 million loss on induced conversion from the partial repurchase of our 2026 Notes. The change in operating assets and liabilities was driven by an increase in deferred revenue which was primarily due to customer growth. The increases in accounts receivable, other receivables and accrued expenses and other liabilities, and prepaid expenses and other assets were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of $45.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of $402.2 million in purchases of marketable securities, $98.1 million for the acquisition of Sustain.Life, and $1.4 million in purchases of fixed assets partially offset by $452.0 million from the maturities of marketable securities and $4.6 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
Cash used in investing activities of $357.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of $573.3 million in purchases of marketable securities and $2.1 million in purchases of fixed assets primarily for computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force. These uses of cash were partially offset by $153.4 million from the maturities of marketable securities as well as $65.1 million from the sale of marketable securities.
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Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities of $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted of $13.8 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) and $4.9 million in proceeds from option exercises partially offset by $11.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards.
Cash provided by financing activities of $301.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of $691.1 million in proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Notes, net of issuance costs, $12.5 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our ESPP, and $4.5 million in proceeds from option exercises partially offset by $396.9 million paid for the partial repurchase of our 2026 Notes and $9.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2024, aggregated by type:
| Payments due by period | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Convertible senior notes | $ | 809,944 | $ | 9,576 | $ | 89,593 | $ | 710,775 | $ | — | |||||||||
| Operating leases including imputed interest | 16,723 | 5,577 | 5,956 | 3,102 | 2,088 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance leases, including interest | 21,290 | 1,315 | 2,630 | 2,630 | 14,715 | ||||||||||||||
| Other contractual commitments | 156,408 | 46,601 | 55,807 | 54,000 | — | ||||||||||||||
| Total contractual obligations | $ | 1,004,365 | $ | 63,069 | $ | 153,986 | $ | 770,507 | $ | 16,803 |
Total future payments related to our convertible senior notes shown in the table above includes $773.2 million aggregate principal amount and future interest payments associated with the Notes of $36.7 million. For more information on our convertible senior notes, refer to Note 8 of our accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We lease certain office space, residential space, buildings and land with various lease terms which are primarily accounted for as operating leases. We have entered into a lease agreement for land and an office building in Ames, Iowa, which was constructed in two phases, and is accounted for as a finance lease. The lease term includes an initial 15-year term and three five-year extensions at our option because renewal was determined to be reasonably assured at the inception of the lease. The lease contains purchase options to acquire the landlord’s interest in the land lease and building at any time beginning three years from June 2014 (the commencement date of the second phase of the lease). In addition, the lease requires us to purchase the building from the landlord upon certain events, such as a change in control.
We enter into certain non-cancelable agreements with third-party providers in the ordinary course of business. Our total commitments under these agreements are $156.4 million and are primarily for cloud infrastructure and cloud services. These amounts are included in the table above under other contractual commitments.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, provision for income taxes and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of our operations.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation
Subscription and Support Revenue
We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts are generally twelve to 36 months in duration, are billed either annually or in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.
Professional Services Revenue and Customer Options
Professional services revenues primarily consist of fees for document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting with our customers on business processes and best practices for using our platform. We have determined that an agreement to purchase these professional services constitutes an option to purchase services in accordance with ASC 606 rather than an agreement that creates enforceable rights and obligations because of the customer’s contractual right to cancel services that have not yet been used. In the limited case of agreements where we determined that the option provides the customer with a material right, we allocate a portion of the transaction price to the material right based upon the relative standalone selling price. Professional service agreements that do not contain a material right are accounted for when the customer exercises its option to purchase additional services.
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Revenue is recognized for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Our professional services revenue is higher in the first calendar quarter because many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K.
Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations
Some of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. For these contracts, we account for the individual performance obligations separately if they are distinct. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price basis. We determine the standalone selling prices based on our overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and entity-specific factors, including the value of our arrangements, length of term, customer demographics and the numbers and types of users within our arrangements.
While changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements of the arrangement could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period, these changes have not historically been significant because our recurring revenue is primarily subscription and support revenue.
Acquisitions
We account for acquisitions under Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations. In general, the acquisition method of accounting requires companies to record assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their respective fair market values at the date of acquisition. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margins, and discount rates. We engage the assistance of third-party valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements in connection with determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Any amount of the purchase price paid that is in excess of the estimated fair values of net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill in our consolidated balance sheets. Transaction costs, as well as costs to reorganize acquired companies, are expensed as incurred in our consolidated statement of operations. Although we believe that the judgments and estimates discussed herein are reasonable, actual results could differ, and we may be exposed to an impairment charge if we are unable to recover the value of the recorded net assets.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 of the notes to consolidated financial statements for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements.
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FY 2023 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001445305-24-000021.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Section 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
Workiva’s mission is to power transparent reporting for a better world. We believe that all stakeholders including consumers, employees, shareholders, and regulators expect more from business – more action, transparency, and disclosure of financial and non-financial information. We build solutions to meet that demand and streamline processes, connect data and teams, and ensure consistency – all within the Workiva platform, the world’s leading cloud platform for assured integrated reporting. Additionally, we offer the only unified software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) platform that brings customers’ financial reporting, Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”), and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (“GRC”) together in a controlled, secure, audit-ready platform.
From data to disclosure, the Workiva platform empowers customers by connecting and transforming data from hundreds of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”), human capital management (“HCM”), and customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents, presentations, and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy, and productivity. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate, and change their business processes in real time.
Workiva provides more than 6,000 organizations across the globe with SaaS platform solutions to help solve some of the most complex reporting and disclosure challenges. While our customers use our platform for more than 100 different use cases, across dozens of vertical industries, we organize our sales and marketing resources into three purpose-built solution groups (Financial Reporting, ESG, and GRC) focusing primarily on the office of the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), Chief Sustainability Officer (“CSO”), and Chief Audit Executive (“CAE”).
We operate our business on a SaaS model. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,526 at December 31, 2023 from 2,447 at December 31, 2022, an increase of 3.2%.
We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $630.0 million in 2023 from $537.9 million in 2022, an increase of 17.1%. We incurred net losses of $127.5 million and $90.9 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
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We continue to invest for future growth and are focused on several key drivers, including focusing on multi-solution adoption by new and existing customers, further developing our partner program, accelerating international expansion and our fit-for-purpose solutions. These growth drivers often require a more sophisticated go-to-market approach and, as a result, we may incur additional costs upfront to obtain new customers and expand our relationships with existing customers, including additional sales and marketing expenses.
Effects of Volatility in the IPO/SPAC Markets
In the U.S., volatility in the public markets led to a decrease in the number of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and special-purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) since fiscal 2022. New sales of our SEC and capital markets solutions were adversely affected by this decline in the IPO and SPAC markets. We expect reduced valuation multiples caused by higher interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical instability to continue to negatively impact the number of IPOs and SPACs in fiscal year 2024. Whether and to what extent the IPO and SPAC markets will moderate cannot be accurately predicted.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with distributed teams of contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals and executives in the areas of financial and non-financial reporting, including regulatory, multi-entity and performance reporting. In addition, we market to teams responsible for environmental, social and governance reporting, and governance, risk and compliance programs. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability; a strong value proposition; and a high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add seats and revenue and continue to support our high revenue retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
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Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in EMEA and APAC.
Seasonality. Our revenue from professional services has some degree of seasonality. Many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K, often in the first calendar quarter. As of December 31, 2023, the majority of our SEC customers reported their financials on a calendar-year basis. Our sales and marketing expense also has some degree of seasonality. With the exception of September 2021 when we transitioned to a virtual event, sales and marketing expense has historically been higher in the third quarter due to our annual user conference in September, which was held as a hybrid in-person/virtual event in 2022. In addition, the timing of the payments of cash bonuses to employees during the first and fourth calendar quarters may result in some seasonality in operating cash flow.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 630,039 | $ | 537,875 | $ | 443,285 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in total revenue | 17.1% | 21.3% | 26.1% | |||||||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 558,645 | $ | 464,935 | $ | 379,340 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 20.2% | 22.6% | 28.2% | |||||||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 88.7% | 86.4% | 85.6% |
| As of December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||
| Operating metrics | |||||||
| Number of customers | 6,034 | 5,664 | 4,315 | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate | 97.9% | 97.8% | 97.0% | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons | 110.3% | 108.5% | 110.0% | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+ | 1,631 | 1,345 | 1,121 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $150k+ | 915 | 718 | 578 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $300k+ | 311 | 236 | 183 |
Total customers. We believe total number of customers is a key indicator of our financial success and future revenue potential. We define a customer as an entity with an active subscription contract as of the measurement date. Our customer is typically a parent company or, in a few cases, a significant subsidiary that works with us directly. Companies with publicly-listed securities account for a substantial majority of our customers.
Subscription and support revenue retention rate. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate based on all customers that were active at the end of the same calendar quarter of the prior year (“base customers”). We begin by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the same calendar quarter of the prior year for those base customers who are still active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
Our subscription and support revenue retention rate was 97.9% as of December 31, 2023, up from 97.8% as of December 31, 2022. We believe that our success in maintaining a high rate of revenue retention is attributable primarily to our robust technology platform and strong customer service. Customers whose securities were deregistered due to merger or acquisition or financial distress accounted for just over half of our revenue attrition in the latest quarter.
Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons. Add-on revenue includes the change in both solutions and pricing for existing customers. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the current quarter for our base customers that were active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
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Our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons was 110.3% as of the year ended December 31, 2023, up from 108.5% as of December 31, 2022.
Annual contract value. Our annual contract value (“ACV”) for each customer is calculated by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recognized during each quarter. We believe the increase in the number of larger contracts shows our progress in expanding our customers’ adoption of our platform. Our ACV metrics as of December 31, 2023 include information related to ParsePort.
| Year ended December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $100k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 66.3% | 62.1% | 60.5% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $150k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 51.7% | 47.4% | 45.2% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $300k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 31.7% | 27.6% | 26.1% |
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions to our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. We serve a wide range of customers in many industries, and our revenue is not concentrated with any single customer or small group of customers. For each of the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, no single customer represented more than 1% of our revenue, and our largest 10 customers accounted for less than 10% of our revenue in the aggregate.
We generate sales directly through our sales force and partners. We also identify some sales opportunities with existing customers through our customer success and professional services teams.
Our customer contracts typically range in length from twelve to 36 months. We typically invoice our customers for subscription fees annually in advance. For contracts with a two or three year term, customers sometimes elect to pay the entire multi-year subscription term in advance. Our arrangements do not contain general rights of return.
Subscription and Support Revenue. We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Amounts that are invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue.
Professional Services Revenue. We believe our professional services facilitate the sale of our subscription service to certain customers. To date, most of our professional services have consisted of document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting to help our customers with business processes and best practices for using our platform. Our professional services are not required for customers to utilize our solution. We recognize revenue for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
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Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists primarily of personnel and related costs directly associated with our professional services, customer success teams and training personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; the costs of contracted third-party vendors; the costs of server usage by our customers; information technology costs; and facility costs. Costs of server usage are comprised primarily of fees paid to Amazon Web Services.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, commissions, travel, and stock-based compensation. Other costs included in this expense are marketing and promotional events, our annual user conference, online marketing, product marketing, information technology costs, and facility costs. We pay sales commissions for initial contracts and expansions of existing customer contracts. When the relevant amortization period is one year or less, we expense sales commissions as incurred. All other sales commissions are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be three years.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; costs of server usage by our developers; information technology costs; and facility costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs for our executive, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; legal, accounting, and other professional service fees; other corporate expenses; information technology costs; and facility costs.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the periods indicated:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 558,645 | $ | 464,935 | $ | 379,340 | ||||
| Professional services | 71,394 | 72,940 | 63,945 | |||||||
| Total revenue | 630,039 | 537,875 | 443,285 | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support(1) | 99,193 | 77,711 | 60,551 | |||||||
| Professional services(1) | 55,029 | 52,174 | 43,282 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 154,222 | 129,885 | 103,833 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 475,817 | 407,990 | 339,452 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development(1) | 172,790 | 151,716 | 115,735 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 287,035 | 245,260 | 178,785 | |||||||
| General and administrative(1) | 110,519 | 99,778 | 74,287 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 570,344 | 496,754 | 368,807 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (94,527) | (88,764) | (29,355) | |||||||
| Interest income | 25,882 | 4,880 | 1,041 | |||||||
| Interest expense | (53,639) | (6,042) | (14,015) | |||||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (1,814) | 926 | 3,229 | |||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (124,098) | (89,000) | (39,100) | |||||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 3,427 | 1,947 | (1,370) | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (127,525) | $ | (90,947) | $ | (37,730) |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in these line items was as follows:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 5,030 | $ | 3,437 | $ | 2,868 | ||||
| Professional services | 2,540 | 2,128 | 1,729 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 18,441 | 12,554 | 9,590 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 27,774 | 19,323 | 13,901 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 44,980 | 33,218 | 20,545 | |||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 98,765 | $ | 70,660 | $ | 48,633 |
The following table sets forth our consolidated statement of operations data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 88.7% | 86.4% | 85.6% | |||||
| Professional services | 11.3 | 13.6 | 14.4 | |||||
| Total revenue | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 15.7 | 14.4 | 13.7 | |||||
| Professional services | 8.7 | 9.7 | 9.8 | |||||
| Total cost of revenue | 24.4 | 24.1 | 23.5 | |||||
| Gross profit | 75.6 | 75.9 | 76.5 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 27.4 | 28.2 | 26.1 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 45.6 | 45.6 | 40.3 | |||||
| General and administrative | 17.5 | 18.6 | 16.8 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 90.5 | 92.4 | 83.2 | |||||
| Loss from operations | (14.9) | (16.5) | (6.7) | |||||
| Interest income | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | |||||
| Interest expense | (8.5) | (1.1) | (3.2) | |||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (0.3) | 0.2 | 0.7 | |||||
| Loss before provision (benefit) for income taxes | (19.6) | (16.5) | (9.0) | |||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 0.5 | 0.4 | (0.3) | |||||
| Net loss | (20.1) | % | (16.9) | % | (8.7) | % |
Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 558,645 | $ | 464,935 | $ | 93,710 | 20.2% | ||||||
| Professional services | 71,394 | 72,940 | (1,546) | (2.1)% | |||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 630,039 | $ | 537,875 | $ | 92,164 | 17.1% |
Total revenue increased $92.2 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to a $93.7 million increase in subscription and support revenue. Growth in subscription and support revenue in 2023 was attributable mainly to strong demand and continued solution expansion across our customer base. The total number of our customers increased 6.5% from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023. Professional services revenue decreased $1.5 million in 2023 compared to 2022. The decrease was driven primarily by the continued transition of consulting and other services to our partners and the timing of performance of XBRL services. We expect the revenue growth rate from subscription and support to continue to outpace revenue growth from professional services on an annual basis.
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Cost of Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 99,193 | $ | 77,711 | $ | 21,482 | 27.6% | ||||||
| Professional services | 55,029 | 52,174 | 2,855 | 5.5% | |||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | $ | 154,222 | $ | 129,885 | $ | 24,337 | 18.7% |
Cost of revenue increased $24.3 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to $16.1 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs due in part to increased headcount, $2.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $3.2 million increase in the cost of cloud infrastructure services, a $1.1 million increase in travel expense, a $0.7 million increase in software expense, and a $0.5 million increase in outsourced service fees. The increases in compensation, cloud infrastructure services, software expense, and outsourced service fees resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in travel expense was due to a modest continued return to travel.
Operating Expenses
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 172,790 | $ | 151,716 | $ | 21,074 | 13.9% | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 287,035 | 245,260 | 41,775 | 17.0% | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 110,519 | 99,778 | 10,741 | 10.8% | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 570,344 | $ | 496,754 | $ | 73,590 | 14.8% |
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased $21.1 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to $14.4 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $5.9 million of additional stock-based compensation, and a $0.7 million increase in travel expense. The increase in compensation resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. During 2023 we recognized an additional $3.1 million in cash-based and stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance obligations. The increase in travel expense was primarily due to our annual internal research and development event and a modest continued return to travel.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $41.8 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to $24.9 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $8.4 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $4.3 million increase in travel expense, a $1.5 million increase in professional service fees, a $1.1 million increase in marketing and advertising, and a $1.0 million increase in software expense. During 2023, we recognized an additional $2.9 million in cash-based and stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance obligations. The remaining increase in compensation, as well as the increase in software expense, were primarily due to an increase in employee headcount as we continue to invest in our go-to-market activities. The increase in travel expense was primarily due to a modest continued return to travel and our annual internal sales and marketing event which was held in person in the first half of 2023. The event was held virtually in the prior year. The increase in professional service fees was the result of our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in marketing and advertising expenses are primarily due to increased events and advertising activities.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased $10.7 million in 2023 compared to 2022, due primarily to $1.4 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $11.6 million of additional stock-based compensation, and a $0.9 million increase in public relations expense, partially offset by a $3.1 million decrease related to consulting, recruiting and professional services fees and a $1.4 million decrease in goods and service tax expense. In addition, during 2023 we recorded one-time fees of $0.6 million related to the cancellation of certain events. During 2023 we recognized an additional $1.4 million and $18.1 million in cash-based compensation and stock-based compensation, respectively, pursuant to certain transition agreements with former executives. The remaining decrease in stock-based compensation is primarily due to a reduction in employee headcount in 2023 and $2.5 million in stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance agreements executed in 2022 which did not recur in 2023. Public relations expense increased during 2023 as we continue to execute on our brand strategy. The decrease in sales tax expense was related to a goods and services tax refund which is not expected to recur.
Non-Operating Income (Expenses)
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 25,882 | $ | 4,880 | $ | 21,002 | ||||
| Interest expense | (53,639) | (6,042) | (47,597) | |||||||
| Other (expense) income, net | (1,814) | 926 | (2,740) |
Interest income increased $21.0 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to larger investment balances coupled with higher interest rates. Interest expense increased in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to a $45.1 million loss on induced conversion from the partial repurchase of our convertible senior notes due in 2026. Other expense increased $2.7 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to losses on the sale of available-for-sale securities and losses on foreign currency transactions.
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Results of Operations for Fiscal 2022 Compared to 2021
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 21, 2023.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview of Sources and Uses of Cash
As of December 31, 2023, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $813.7 million, which were held for working capital purposes. We have financed our operations primarily through the proceeds of offerings of equity, convertible debt, and cash from operating activities. We have generated significant operating losses as reflected in our accumulated deficit and consolidated statements of cash flows. While we expect to continue to incur operating losses and may incur negative cash flows from operations in the future, we believe that current cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of the issuance of the audited consolidated financial statements.
Convertible Debt
In August 2023, we issued $702.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.250% convertible senior notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”). Proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Notes totaled $691.1 million, net of initial purchaser discounts and issuance costs. We used $396.9 million of the net proceeds from the 2028 Notes offering to repurchase $273.8 million principal amount, together with accrued and unpaid interest thereon, of our 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) in separate and individually negotiated transactions with certain holders. As of December 31, 2023, we had outstanding debt relating to our 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes of $70.5 million and $691.9 million, with corresponding maturity dates of August 15, 2026 and August 15, 2028, respectively.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes cash flow activity during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||
| Cash flow provided by operating activities | $ | 70,875 | $ | 11,334 | $ | 49,844 | ||||
| Cash flow used in investing activities | (357,253) | (68,012) | (68,631) | |||||||
| Cash flow provided by (used in) financing activities | 301,265 | (1,587) | (3,388) | |||||||
| Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents, net of impact of exchange rates | $ | 16,524 | $ | (60,189) | $ | (22,445) |
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Operating Activities
Our largest source of operating cash is cash collections from customers for subscription and support access to our platform. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities are for personnel-related expenditures, marketing activities, and costs of cloud infrastructure services.
Cash provided by operating activities of $70.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of a net loss of $127.5 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $105.0 million, net cash inflows of $48.2 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities, and a $45.1 million adjustment for induced conversion expense associated with the repurchase of our convertible senior notes. The change in operating assets and liabilities was driven by an increase in deferred revenue which was primarily due to customer growth. The increases in accounts receivable, other receivables and accrued expenses and other liabilities prepaid expenses and other assets were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments.
Cash provided by operating activities of $11.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 consisted of a net loss of $90.9 million offset by non-cash charges of $83.9 million and net cash inflows of $18.3 million from changes in operating assets and liabilities. Customer growth accounted for most of the increase in deferred revenue. The increases in accounts receivable, prepaid expenses, other assets and account payable as well as the decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments. The increase in other receivables was attributable primarily to an increase in our refundable research and development tax credit. The increase in deferred costs was primarily due to additional payments made to our sales force related to the direct and incremental costs of obtaining a customer contract.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of $357.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of investing $573.3 million in various marketable securities, as well as purchases of fixed assets of $2.1 million primarily for computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force. These uses of cash were partially offset by $153.4 million from the maturities of marketable securities and $65.1 million from the sale of marketable securities.
Cash used in investing activities of $68.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 consisted of $130.8 million in purchases of marketable securities, $99.2 million for the acquisition of ParsePort, and $3.5 million in purchases of fixed assets partially offset by $150.6 million from the maturities of marketable securities as well as $15.0 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities of $301.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted of $691.1 million in proceeds from the issuance of our 2028 Notes, net of issuance costs, $12.5 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan, and $4.5 million in proceeds from option exercises, partially offset by $396.9 million paid for the partial repurchase of our 2026 Notes and $9.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards.
Cash used in financing activities of $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 consisted of $12.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards and $1.6 million in principal payments on finance lease obligations partially offset by $9.3 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan and $3.3 million in proceeds from option exercises.
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Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2023, aggregated by type:
| Payments due by period | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Convertible senior notes | $ | 819,441 | $ | 9,496 | $ | 90,395 | $ | 719,550 | $ | — | |||||||||
| Operating leases including imputed interest | 18,830 | 6,048 | 7,198 | 3,220 | 2,364 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance leases, including interest | 22,605 | 1,315 | 2,630 | 2,630 | 16,030 | ||||||||||||||
| Other contractual commitments | 28,137 | 24,298 | 3,839 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Total contractual obligations | $ | 889,013 | $ | 41,157 | $ | 104,062 | $ | 725,400 | $ | 18,394 |
Total future payments related to our convertible senior notes shown in the table above includes $773.2 million aggregate principal amount and future interest payments associated with the Notes of $46.2 million. For more information on our convertible senior notes, refer to Note 8 of our accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We lease certain office space, residential space, buildings and land with various lease terms which are primarily accounted for as operating leases. We have entered into a lease agreement for land and an office building in Ames, Iowa, which was constructed in two phases, and is accounted for as a finance lease. The lease term includes an initial 15-year term and three five-year extensions at our option because renewal was determined to be reasonably assured at the inception of the lease. The lease contains purchase options to acquire the landlord’s interest in the land lease and building at any time beginning three years from June 2014 (the commencement date of the second phase of the lease). In addition, the lease requires us to purchase the building from the landlord upon certain events, such as a change in control.
We enter into certain non-cancelable agreements with third-party providers in the ordinary course of business. Our total commitments under these agreements are $28.1 million and are primarily for cloud infrastructure and cloud services. These amounts are included in the table above under other contractual commitments.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, provision for income taxes and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of our operations.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation
Subscription and Support Revenue
We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts are generally twelve to 36 months in duration, are billed either annually or in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.
Professional Services Revenue and Customer Options
Professional services revenues primarily consist of fees for document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting with our customers on business processes and best practices for using our platform. We have determined that an agreement to purchase these professional services constitutes an option to purchase services in accordance with ASC 606 rather than an agreement that creates enforceable rights and obligations because of the customer’s contractual right to cancel services that have not yet been used. In the limited case of agreements where we determined that the option provides the customer with a material right, we allocate a portion of the transaction price to the material right based upon the relative standalone selling price. Professional service agreements that do not contain a material right are accounted for when the customer exercises its option to purchase additional services.
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Revenue is recognized for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Our professional services revenue is higher in the first calendar quarter because many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K.
Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations
Some of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. For these contracts, we account for the individual performance obligations separately if they are distinct. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price basis. We determine the standalone selling prices based on our overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and entity-specific factors, including the value of our arrangements, length of term, customer demographics and the numbers and types of users within our arrangements.
While changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements of the arrangement could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period, these changes have not historically been significant because our recurring revenue is primarily subscription and support revenue.
Acquisitions
We account for acquisitions under Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations. In general, the acquisition method of accounting requires companies to record assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their respective fair market values at the date of acquisition. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margins, and discount rates. We engage the assistance of third-party valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements in connection with determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Any amount of the purchase price paid that is in excess of the estimated fair values of net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill in our consolidated balance sheets. Transaction costs, as well as costs to reorganize acquired companies, are expensed as incurred in our consolidated statement of operations. Although we believe that the judgments and estimates discussed herein are reasonable, actual results could differ, and we may be exposed to an impairment charge if we are unable to recover the value of the recorded net assets.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 of the notes to consolidated financial statements for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements.
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FY 2022 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001445305-23-000042.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Section 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
Workiva simplifies complex work for thousands of organizations worldwide. We are a leading provider of cloud-based compliance and regulatory reporting solutions that are designed to solve business challenges at the intersection of data, process and people.
Workiva changes the way enterprises manage and report business data. Our open, intelligent and intuitive platform is based on single instance, multi-tenant software applications deployed in the cloud. Our platform connects data, documents and teams, which results in improved efficiency, greater transparency and reduced risk of errors. We offer customers controlled collaboration, data linking, data integrations, granular permissions, process management and a full audit trail on our proprietary platform.
Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy and productivity. Customers collaborate in the same document simultaneously, which improves efficiency and version control. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate and change their business processes in real time.
Our platform lets our customers connect data from Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”), Governance, Risk and Compliance (“GRC”), Human Capital Management (“HCM”) and Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications.
While our customers use our platform for dozens of different use cases, our sales and marketing resources are organized into four solution groups: Financial Reporting, ESG, GRC and Industry Verticals.
We operate our business on a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) model. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force and, to a lesser extent, our customer success and professional services teams. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,447 at December 31, 2022 from 2,106 at December 31, 2021, an increase of 16.2%.
We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $537.9 million in 2022 from $443.3 million in 2021, an increase of 21.3%. We incurred net losses of $90.9 million and $37.7 million in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
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While we continue to see growth in our total revenues, macroeconomic factors have impacted our business and our customers’ businesses in ways that are difficult to isolate and quantify. During the course of 2022, we have seen more measured buying behavior from our customers resulting in elongated sales cycles. Slower growth in new business in any given period could negatively affect our revenues or operating margins in future periods, particularly if experienced on a sustained basis.
In addition, the expanding international scope of our business and the heightened volatility of global markets, expose us to the risk of fluctuations in foreign currency markets. Foreign currency fluctuations have negatively impacted year over year revenue growth. Recently the United States Dollar has strengthened against certain foreign currencies in the markets in which we operate, particularly against the Euro and British Pound Sterling. If these conditions continue throughout fiscal 2023, they could have a material adverse impact on our near-term results and our ability to accurately predict our future results and earnings.
We continue to invest for future growth and are focused on several key drivers, including focusing on multi-solution adoption by new and existing customers, further developing our partner program, accelerating international expansion and our fit-for-purpose solutions. These growth drivers often require a more sophisticated go-to-market approach and, as a result, we may incur additional costs upfront to obtain new customers and expand our relationships with existing customers, including additional sales and marketing expenses.
Recent Business Developments
On April 1, 2022, we acquired all of the issued and outstanding equity interests in ParsePort ApS, a leading solution provider for the ESEF financial reporting mandate, which complements Workiva's cloud platform.
On December 29, 2021, we acquired all of the equity interest in Mark V Systems Limited, a California corporation (“Mark V Systems”) and owner of Arelle, the leading open-source XBRL validation engine. As the global standard, Arelle is used by a community of over 50 global regulators, banks and technology companies that depend on it for data quality and comparison. Workiva is committed to working with the XBRL community to keep Arelle open-sourced and collaborating for the advancement of this important validation engine.
On December 10, 2021, we acquired all of the membership interests in AuditNet, LLC (“AuditNet”), a global audit content and services provider, which strengthens Workiva’s risk and assurance offerings.
On July 30, 2021, we acquired all of the equity interest in OneCloud, Inc., an integration platform as a service (“iPaaS”) company, in order to extend our integration and data preparation capabilities. See Note 12 to the consolidated financial statements for more information on our acquisitions.
Impact of COVID-19
Although the COVD-19 pandemic persists, we do not believe that it has adversely affected our business. We have been able to maintain business continuity and have experienced no pandemic-related employee furloughs or layoffs. We have remote-work options available for most employees, while permitting in-person collaboration at our various offices. We continue to monitor and update our practices in response to changes in the COVID-19 workplace safety and health standards established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”).
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COVID-19 variants continue to develop and spread, and there is therefore the possibility of future disruption to Workiva’s operations. The impact of any disruption is dependent upon a number of factors including the duration and severity of any COVID-19 resurgence, its impact on the overall economy and specific industry sectors, vaccination rates and the longer-term efficacy of vaccinations. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
Effects of Volatility in the IPO/SPAC Markets
In the United States, volatility in the public markets led to a decrease in the number of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and special-purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) in 2022. New sales of our SEC and capital markets solutions were adversely affected by this decline in the IPO and SPAC markets. We expect reduced valuation multiples caused by higher interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical instability to continue to negatively impact the number of IPOs and SPACs in fiscal year 2023. Accordingly, we expect this volatility to continue to apply pressure to new sales of our SEC and capital markets solutions. Whether and to what extent the IPO and SPAC markets will moderate cannot be accurately predicted.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with distributed teams of contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals and executives in the areas of financial and non-financial reporting, including regulatory, multi-entity and performance reporting. In addition, we market to teams responsible for environmental, social and governance reporting, and governance, risk and compliance programs. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability; a strong value proposition; and a high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add seats and revenue and continue to support our high revenue retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
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Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in EMEA and APAC.
Seasonality. Our revenue from professional services has some degree of seasonality. Many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K, often in the first calendar quarter. As of December 31, 2022, the majority of our SEC customers reported their financials on a calendar-year basis. Our sales and marketing expense also has some degree of seasonality. With the exception of September 2020 and September 2021 when we transitioned to a virtual event, sales and marketing expense has historically been higher in the third quarter due to our annual user conference in September, which was held as a hybrid in-person/virtual event in 2022. In addition, the timing of the payments of cash bonuses to employees during the first and fourth calendar quarters may result in some seasonality in operating cash flow.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 537,875 | $ | 443,285 | $ | 351,594 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in total revenue | 21.3% | 26.1% | 18.0% | |||||||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 464,935 | $ | 379,340 | $ | 295,877 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 22.6% | 28.2% | 20.4% | |||||||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 86.4% | 85.6% | 84.2% |
| As of December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||
| Operating metrics | |||||||
| Number of customers | 5,664 | 4,315 | 3,723 | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate | 97.8% | 97.0% | 95.0% | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons | 108.5% | 110.0% | 109.5% | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+ | 1,345 | 1,121 | 847 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $150k+ | 718 | 578 | 419 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $300k+ | 236 | 183 | 119 |
Total customers. We believe total number of customers is a key indicator of our financial success and future revenue potential. We define a customer as an entity with an active subscription contract as of the measurement date. Our customer is typically a parent company or, in a few cases, a significant subsidiary that works with us directly. Companies with publicly-listed securities account for a substantial majority of our customers. As of December 31, 2022, our total customer count includes 922 ParsePort ESEF customers.
Subscription and support revenue retention rate. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate based on all customers that were active at the end of the same calendar quarter of the prior year (“base customers”). We begin by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the same calendar quarter of the prior year for those base customers who are still active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
Our subscription and support revenue retention rate was 97.8% as of December 31, 2022, up from 97.0% as of December 31, 2021. We believe that our success in maintaining a high rate of revenue retention is attributable primarily to our robust technology platform and strong customer service. Customers whose securities were deregistered due to merger or acquisition or financial distress accounted for just over half of our revenue attrition in the latest quarter. Our subscription and support revenue retention rate as of December 31, 2022 does not include ParsePort due to lack of comparable data in the prior year.
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Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons. Add-on revenue includes the change in both solutions and pricing for existing customers. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the current quarter for our base customers that were active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
Our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons was 108.5% as of the year ended December 31, 2022, down from 110.0% as of December 31, 2021. There has been downward pressure on this key performance indicator as the IPO/SPAC market slowed in 2022 and customers that purchased higher priced capital markets solutions throughout 2021 transitioned to more moderately priced ongoing solutions in 2022. Our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons as of December 31, 2022 does not include ParsePort due to lack of comparable data in the prior year.
Annual contract value. Our annual contract value (“ACV”) for each customer is calculated by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recognized during each quarter. We believe the increase in the number of larger contracts shows our progress in expanding our customers’ adoption of our platform. Our ACV metrics as of December 31, 2022 include information related to ParsePort.
| Year ended December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $100k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 62.1% | 60.5% | 53.3% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $150k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 47.4% | 45.2% | 37.3% | ||
| Subscription and support revenue from customers with annual contract value of $300k+ as a percent of total subscription and support revenue | 27.6% | 26.1% | 19.3% |
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions to our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. We serve a wide range of customers in many industries, and our revenue is not concentrated with any single customer or small group of customers. For each of the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, no single customer represented more than 1% of our revenue, and our largest 10 customers accounted for less than 5% of our revenue in the aggregate.
We generate sales directly through our sales force and partners. We also identify some sales opportunities with existing customers through our customer success and professional services teams.
Our customer contracts typically range in length from twelve to 36 months. We typically invoice our customers for subscription fees annually in advance. For contracts with a two or three year term, customers sometimes elect to pay the entire multi-year subscription term in advance. Our arrangements do not contain general rights of return.
Subscription and Support Revenue. We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Amounts that are invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue.
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Professional Services Revenue. We believe our professional services facilitate the sale of our subscription service to certain customers. To date, most of our professional services have consisted of document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting to help our customers with business processes and best practices for using our platform. Our professional services are not required for customers to utilize our solution. We recognize revenue for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists primarily of personnel and related costs directly associated with our professional services, customer success teams and training personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; the costs of contracted third-party vendors; the costs of server usage by our customers; information technology costs; and facility costs. Costs of server usage are comprised primarily of fees paid to Amazon Web Services.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, commissions, travel, and stock-based compensation. Other costs included in this expense are marketing and promotional events, our annual user conference, online marketing, product marketing, information technology costs, and facility costs. We pay sales commissions for initial contracts and expansions of existing customer contracts. When the relevant amortization period is one year or less, we expense sales commissions as incurred. All other sales commissions are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be three years.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; costs of server usage by our developers; information technology costs; and facility costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs for our executive, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; legal, accounting, and other professional service fees; other corporate expenses; information technology costs; and facility costs.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the periods indicated:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 464,935 | $ | 379,340 | $ | 295,877 | ||||
| Professional services | 72,940 | 63,945 | 55,717 | |||||||
| Total revenue | 537,875 | 443,285 | 351,594 | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support(1) | 77,711 | 60,551 | 49,503 | |||||||
| Professional services(1) | 52,174 | 43,282 | 40,674 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 129,885 | 103,833 | 90,177 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 407,990 | 339,452 | 261,417 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development(1) | 151,716 | 115,735 | 94,844 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 245,260 | 178,785 | 144,687 | |||||||
| General and administrative(1) | 99,778 | 74,287 | 59,688 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 496,754 | 368,807 | 299,219 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (88,764) | (29,355) | (37,802) | |||||||
| Interest income | 4,880 | 1,041 | 3,282 | |||||||
| Interest expense | (6,042) | (14,015) | (13,964) | |||||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 926 | 3,229 | (205) | |||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (89,000) | (39,100) | (48,689) | |||||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 1,947 | (1,370) | (291) | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (90,947) | $ | (37,730) | $ | (48,398) |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in these line items was as follows:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 3,437 | $ | 2,868 | $ | 1,709 | ||||
| Professional services | 2,128 | 1,729 | 1,434 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 12,554 | 9,590 | 8,100 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 19,323 | 13,901 | 11,062 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 33,218 | 20,545 | 23,466 | |||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 70,660 | $ | 48,633 | $ | 45,771 |
The following table sets forth our consolidated statement of operations data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 86.4% | 85.6% | 84.2% | |||||
| Professional services | 13.6 | 14.4 | 15.8 | |||||
| Total revenue | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 14.4 | 13.7 | 14.1 | |||||
| Professional services | 9.7 | 9.8 | 11.6 | |||||
| Total cost of revenue | 24.1 | 23.5 | 25.7 | |||||
| Gross profit | 75.9 | 76.5 | 74.3 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 28.2 | 26.1 | 27.0 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 45.6 | 40.3 | 41.2 | |||||
| General and administrative | 18.6 | 16.8 | 17.0 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 92.4 | 83.2 | 85.2 | |||||
| Loss from operations | (16.5) | (6.7) | (10.9) | |||||
| Interest income | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.9 | |||||
| Interest expense | (1.1) | (3.2) | (4.0) | |||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 0.2 | 0.7 | (0.1) | |||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (16.5) | (9.0) | (14.1) | |||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 0.4 | (0.3) | (0.1) | |||||
| Net loss | (16.9) | % | (8.7) | % | (14.0) | % |
Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 464,935 | $ | 379,340 | $ | 85,595 | 22.6% | ||||||
| Professional services | 72,940 | 63,945 | 8,995 | 14.1% | |||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 537,875 | $ | 443,285 | $ | 94,590 | 21.3% |
Total revenue increased $94.6 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to the increase in subscription and support revenue of $85.6 million. Growth in subscription and support revenue in 2022 was attributable mainly to strong demand and continued solution expansion across our customer base. The total number of our customers increased 31.3% from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022. Professional services revenue increased $9.0 million due primarily to growth in revenue from XBRL professional services.
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Cost of Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 77,711 | $ | 60,551 | $ | 17,160 | 28.3% | ||||||
| Professional services | 52,174 | 43,282 | 8,892 | 20.5% | |||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | $ | 129,885 | $ | 103,833 | $ | 26,052 | 25.1% |
Cost of revenue increased $26.1 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to $18.0 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits due in part to increased headcount, $1.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $3.4 million increase in the cost of cloud infrastructure services, a $1.4 million increase in travel expense, $0.8 million increase in outsourced service fees, and a $1.4 million increase in information technology and facility costs in support of our employees. The increases in headcount, cloud infrastructure services, and outsourced service fees resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in travel expense was due to a return to travel as travel restrictions and company policies originally implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.
Operating Expenses
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 151,716 | $ | 115,735 | $ | 35,981 | 31.1% | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 245,260 | 178,785 | 66,475 | 37.2% | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 99,778 | 74,287 | 25,491 | 34.3% | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 496,754 | $ | 368,807 | $ | 127,947 | 34.7% |
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased $36.0 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to $21.5 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $3.0 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $2.8 million increase in the cost of cloud infrastructure services, a $2.8 million increase in travel expense, a $2.4 million increase related to the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, a $1.9 million increase in information technology and facility costs in support of our research development organization, and a $1.6 million increase related to consulting fees. The increase in cash-based compensation and stock-based compensation were due primarily to an increase in employee headcount. The increase in cloud infrastructure services and consulting fees resulted primarily from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in travel expense was due to a return to travel as travel restrictions and company policies originally implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $66.5 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to $42.7 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $5.4 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $5.5 million increase in the cost of marketing programs, a $5.7 million increase in travel expense, a $1.9 million increase related to the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, and a $3.8 million increase in information technology and facility costs in support of sales and marketing. The increase in cash-based compensation was due primarily to an increase in employee headcount. During 2022, we recognized an additional $1.4 million in stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance obligations. The increase in the cost of marketing programs was due to an increase in-person events as well as costs related to our annual user conference. The increase in travel expense was due to a return to travel as travel restrictions and company policies originally implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased $25.5 million in 2022 compared to 2021, due primarily to $3.4 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, $12.5 million of additional stock-based compensation, a $1.8 million increase in travel expense, a $0.9 million increase in software expense, and a $4.9 million increase related to consulting, recruiting, and professional services fees. The increase in cash-based compensation was due to an increase in employee headcount. During 2022 we recognized an additional $3.8 million in stock-based compensation pursuant to certain severance agreements. The remaining increase in stock-based compensation was due primarily to increased employee headcount in addition to the issuance of performance-based stock units to our executives. The increases in software, consulting, recruiting and professional service fees were the result of our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in travel expense was due to a return to travel as travel restrictions and company policies originally implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.
Non-Operating Income (Expenses)
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | Amount | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 4,880 | $ | 1,041 | $ | 3,839 | ||||
| Interest expense | (6,042) | (14,015) | 7,973 | |||||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 926 | 3,229 | (2,303) |
Interest income increased $3.8 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to higher interest rates on investments. Interest expense decreased $8.0 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to our adoption of ASU 2020-06 in 2022 which resulted in the reduction of non-cash interest expense. Other income, net decreased $2.3 million in 2022 compared to 2021 due primarily to a $3.7 million gain recognized upon the settlement of our equity interest in OneCloud in 2021 which did not recur in 2022.
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Results of Operations for Fiscal 2021 Compared to 2020
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on February 22, 2022.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview of Sources and Uses of Cash
As of December 31, 2022, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $430.8 million, which were held for working capital purposes. We have financed our operations primarily through the proceeds of offerings of equity, convertible debt, and cash from operating activities. We have generated significant operating losses and negative cash flows as reflected in our accumulated deficit and consolidated statements of cash flows. While we expect to continue to incur operating losses and may incur negative cash flows from operations in the future, we believe that current cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of the issuance of the audited consolidated financial statements.
Convertible Debt
In August 2019, we issued $345.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2026, including the exercise in full by the initial purchasers of their option to purchase an additional $45.0 million principal amount. The Notes are senior, unsecured obligations and bear interest at a fixed rate of 1.125% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on February 15 and August 15 of each year, commencing on February 15, 2020. Proceeds from the issuance of the Notes totaled $335.9 million, net of initial purchaser discounts and issuance costs.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes cash flow activity during the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||
| Cash flow provided by operating activities | $ | 11,334 | $ | 49,844 | $ | 33,243 | ||||
| Cash flow used in investing activities | (68,012) | (68,631) | (103,750) | |||||||
| Cash flow (used in) provided by financing activities | (1,587) | (3,388) | 11,118 | |||||||
| Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents, net of impact of exchange rates | $ | (60,189) | $ | (22,445) | $ | (58,911) |
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Operating Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash provided by operating activities was $11.3 million. The primary factors affecting our operating cash flows during the period were our net loss of $90.9 million, adjusted for non-cash charges of $10.2 million for depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment and intangible assets, $70.7 million of stock-based compensation expense, $1.3 million for the amortization of our debt issuance costs, $1.1 million for the amortization of premiums and discounts on marketable securities, and an $18.3 million net change in operating assets and liabilities. The primary drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $28.9 million increase in accounts receivable, an $8.5 million increase in deferred costs, a $1.7 million increase in other receivables, a $2.9 million increase in prepaid expenses, a $2.4 million increase in other assets, and a $1.5 million decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities offset by a $2.4 million increase in accounts payable and a $61.7 million increase in deferred revenue. Customer growth accounted for most of the increase in deferred revenue. The increases in accounts receivable, prepaid expenses, other assets and account payable as well as the decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments. The increase in other receivables was attributable primarily to an increase in our refundable research and development tax credit. The increase in deferred costs was primarily due to additional payments made to our sales force related to the direct and incremental costs of obtaining a customer contract.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash provided by operating activities was $49.8 million. The primary factors affecting our operating cash flows during the period were our net loss of $37.7 million, adjusted for non-cash charges of $5.2 million for depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment and intangible assets, $48.6 million of stock-based compensation, $9.2 million for the amortization of our debt discount and issuance costs, $3.0 million for the amortization of premiums and discounts on marketable securities, and a $27.3 million net change in operating assets and liabilities partially offset by a gain on the settlement of equity securities of $3.7 million and deferred income tax of $2.0 million. The primary drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $19.2 million increase in deferred costs, a $7.7 million increase in accounts receivable, and a $6.5 million increase in prepaid expenses and other, offset by a $47.4 million increase in deferred revenue and a $14.7 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities. Customer growth as well as the prior year impact of the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for most of the increase in deferred revenue. We offer limited incentives for customers to enter into contract terms for more than one year. The increases in accounts receivable and accrued expenses and other liabilities were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments. The increase in prepaid expenses was attributable primarily to the timing of annual contracts. The increase in deferred contract costs was primarily due to additional payments made to our sales force related to the direct and incremental costs of obtaining a customer contract.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of $68.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 was due primarily to $130.8 million in purchases of marketable securities, $99.2 million for the acquisition of ParsePort, and $3.5 million in purchases of fixed assets partially offset by $150.6 million from the maturities of marketable securities as well as $15.0 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
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Cash used in investing activities of $68.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 was due primarily to $170.1 million for the purchase of marketable securities, $37.5 million for acquisitions, net of cash acquired, and $3.5 million of capital expenditures, partially offset by $143.2 million from the maturities of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities of $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 was due primarily to $12.5 million in taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards and $1.6 million in principal payments on finance lease obligations partially offset by $9.3 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan and $3.3 million in proceeds from option exercises.
Cash used in financing activities of $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 was due primarily to $16.6 million in proceeds from option exercises and $8.9 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan, offset by $27.1 million in taxes withheld related to net share settlement of our stock-based compensation awards and an aggregate $1.7 million in payments on finance lease obligations.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2022, aggregated by type:
| Payments due by period | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Convertible senior notes | $ | 360,525 | $ | 3,881 | $ | 7,763 | $ | 348,881 | $ | — | |||||||||
| Operating leases including imputed interest | 20,901 | 6,506 | 7,185 | 3,346 | 3,864 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance leases, including interest | 23,921 | 1,315 | 2,630 | 2,630 | 17,346 | ||||||||||||||
| Other contractual commitments | 39,974 | 27,198 | 12,776 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Total contractual obligations | $ | 445,321 | $ | 38,900 | $ | 30,354 | $ | 354,857 | $ | 21,210 |
Total future payments related to our Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 shown in the table above includes $345.0 million principal amount and future interest payments of $15.5 million. For more information on our convertible senior notes, refer to Note 8 of our accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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We lease certain office space, residential space, buildings and land with various lease terms which are primarily accounted for as operating leases. We have entered into a lease agreement for land and an office building in Ames, Iowa, which was constructed in two phases, and is accounted for as a finance lease. The lease term includes an initial 15-year term and three five-year extensions at our option because renewal was determined to be reasonably assured at the inception of the lease. The lease contains purchase options to acquire the landlord’s interest in the land lease and building at any time beginning three years from June 2014 (the commencement date of the second phase of the lease). In addition, the lease requires us to purchase the building from the landlord upon certain events, such as a change in control.
We enter into certain non-cancelable agreements with third-party providers in the ordinary course of business. Our total commitments under these agreements are $40.0 million and are primarily for cloud infrastructure and cloud services. These amounts are included in the table above under “other contractual commitments”.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, provision for income taxes and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of our operations.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation
Subscription and Support Revenue
We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts are generally twelve to 36 months in duration, are billed either annually or in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.
Professional Services Revenue and Customer Options
Professional services revenues primarily consist of fees for document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting with our customers on business processes and best practices for using our platform. We have determined that an agreement to purchase these professional services constitutes an option to purchase services in accordance with ASC 606 rather than an agreement that creates enforceable rights and obligations because of the customer’s contractual right to cancel services that have not yet been used. In the limited case of agreements where we determined that the option provides the customer with a material right, we allocate a portion of the transaction price to the material right based upon the relative standalone selling price. Professional service agreements that do not contain a material right are accounted for when the customer exercises its option to purchase additional services.
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Revenue is recognized for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Our professional services revenue is higher in the first calendar quarter because many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K.
Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations
Some of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. For these contracts, we account for the individual performance obligations separately if they are distinct. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price basis. We determine the standalone selling prices based on our overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and entity-specific factors, including the value of our arrangements, length of term, customer demographics and the numbers and types of users within our arrangements.
While changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements of the arrangement could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period, these changes have not historically been significant because our recurring revenue is primarily subscription and support revenue.
Acquisitions
We account for acquisitions under Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations. In general, the acquisition method of accounting requires companies to record assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their respective fair market values at the date of acquisition. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margins, and discount rates. We engage the assistance of third-party valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements in connection with determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Any amount of the purchase price paid that is in excess of the estimated fair values of net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill in our consolidated balance sheets. Transaction costs, as well as costs to reorganize acquired companies, are expensed as incurred in our consolidated statement of operations. Although we believe that the judgments and estimates discussed herein are reasonable, actual results could differ, and we may be exposed to an impairment charge if we are unable to recover the value of the recorded net assets.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 of the notes to consolidated financial statements for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements.
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FY 2021 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001445305-22-000041.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in “Section 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
Workiva simplifies complex work for thousands of organizations worldwide. We are a leading provider of cloud-based compliance and regulatory reporting solutions that are designed to solve business challenges at the intersection of data, process and people.
Workiva changes the way enterprises manage and report business data. Our open, intelligent and intuitive platform is based on single instance, multi-tenant software applications deployed in the cloud. Our platform connects data, documents and teams, which results in improved efficiency, greater transparency and reduced risk of errors. We offer customers controlled collaboration, data linking, data integrations, granular permissions, process management and a full audit trail on our proprietary platform.
Customers use our platform to create, review and publish data-linked documents and reports with greater control, consistency, accuracy and productivity. Customers collaborate in the same document simultaneously, which improves efficiency and version control. Our platform is flexible and scalable, so customers can easily adapt it to define, automate and change their business processes in real time.
Our platform lets our customers connect data from Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”), Governance Risk and Compliance (“GRC”), Human Capital Management (“HCM”) and Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications.
While our customers use our platform for dozens of different use cases, our sales and marketing resources are organized into four solution groups: Regulatory Reporting, Non-Regulatory Reporting, Financial Services and Integrated Risk.
We operate our business on a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) model. Customers enter into annual and multi-year subscription contracts to gain access to our platform. Our subscription fee includes the use of our software and technical support. Our subscription pricing is based primarily on a solution-based licensing model. Under this model, operating metrics related to a customer’s expected use of each solution determine the price. We charge customers additional fees primarily for document setup and XBRL tagging services.
We generate sales primarily through our direct sales force and, to a lesser extent, our customer success and professional services teams. In addition, we augment our direct sales channel with partnerships. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens the capabilities of our platform, bringing scale and support to customers and prospects. Our technology partners enable more data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform.
We continue to invest in the development of our solutions, infrastructure and sales and marketing to drive long-term growth. Our full-time employee headcount expanded to 2,106 at December 31, 2021 from 1,718 at December 31, 2020, an increase of 22.6%.
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We have achieved significant revenue growth in recent periods. Our revenue grew to $443.3 million in 2021 from $351.6 million in 2020, an increase of 26.1%. We incurred net losses of $37.7 million and $48.4 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Recent Business Developments
On December 29, 2021, we acquired all of the equity interest in Mark V Systems Limited, a California corporation (“Mark V Systems”) and owner of Arelle, the leading open-source XBRL validation engine. As the global standard, Arelle is used by a community of over 50 global regulators, banks and technology companies that depend on it for data quality and comparison. Workiva is committed to working with the XBRL community to keep Arelle open-sourced and collaborating for the advancement of this important validation engine.
On December 10, 2021, we acquired all of the membership interests in AuditNet, LLC (“AuditNet”), a global audit content and services provider, which strengthens Workiva’s risk and assurance offerings.
On July 30, 2021, we acquired all of the equity interest in OneCloud, Inc., an integration platform as a service iPaaS company, in order to extend our integration and data preparation capabilities. See Note 12 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for more information on our acquisitions.
Impact of COVID-19
Although the COVD-19 pandemic persists, we do not believe that it has adversely affected our business. We have been able to maintain business continuity and have experienced no pandemic-related employee furloughs or layoffs. We have remote-work options available for most employees, while permitting in-person collaboration at our various offices for employees who are vaccinated. We continue to monitor and update our practices in response to changes in the COVID-19 workplace safety and health standards established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”).
Should COVID-19 variants continue to develop and spread, there is the possibility of future disruption to Workiva’s operations. The impact of any disruption is dependent upon a number of factors including the duration and severity of any COVID-19 resurgence, its impact on the overall economy and specific industry sectors, vaccination rates and the longer-term efficacy of vaccinations. We will continue to evaluate and refine our return-to-work and related policies in accordance with OSHA and CDC guidance.
Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Generate Growth From Existing Customers. The Workiva platform can exhibit a powerful network effect within an enterprise, meaning that the usefulness of our platform attracts additional users. Since solution-based licensing offers our customers an unlimited number of seats for each solution purchased, we expect customers to add more seats over time. As more employees in an enterprise use our platform, additional opportunities for collaboration and automation drive demand among their colleagues for additional solutions.
Pursue New Customers. We sell to organizations that manage large, complex processes with many contributors and disparate sets of business data. We market our platform to professionals in the areas of: finance and accounting, regulatory reporting, management and performance reporting, integrated risk management, and global statutory reporting. We intend to continue to build our sales and marketing organization and leverage our brand equity to attract new customers.
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Offer More Solutions. We intend to introduce new solutions to continue to meet growing demand for our platform. Our close and trusted relationships with our customers are a source for new use cases, features and solutions. We have a disciplined process for tracking, developing and releasing new solutions that are designed to have immediate, broad applicability; a strong value proposition; and a high return on investment for both Workiva and our customers. Our advance planning team assesses customer needs, conducts industry-based research and defines new markets. This vetting process involves our sales, product marketing, customer success, professional services, research and development, finance and senior management teams.
Expand Across Enterprises. Our success in delivering multiple solutions has created demand from customers for a broader-based, enterprise-wide Workiva platform. In response, we have been improving our technology and realigning sales and marketing to capitalize on our growing enterprise-wide opportunities. We believe this expansion will add seats and revenue and continue to support our high revenue retention rates. However, we expect that enterprise-wide deals will be larger and more complex, which tend to lengthen the sales cycle.
Add Partners. We continue to expand and deepen our relationships with global and regional partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, large and mid-sized independent software vendors, and implementation partners. Our advisory and service partners offer a wider range of domain and functional expertise that broadens our platform’s capabilities and promotes Workiva as part of the digital transformation projects they drive for their customers. Our technology partners enable powerful data and process integrations to help customers connect critical transactional systems directly to our platform, with powerful linking, auditability and control features. We believe that our partner ecosystem extends our global reach, accelerates the usage and adoption of our platform, and enables more efficient delivery of professional services.
Investment in growth. We plan to continue to invest in the development of our platform, fit-for-purpose solutions and application marketplace to enhance our current offerings and build new features. In addition, we expect to continue to invest in our sales, marketing, professional services and customer success organizations to drive additional revenue and support the needs of our growing customer base and to take advantage of opportunities that we have identified in EMEA and APAC.
Seasonality. Our revenue from professional services has some degree of seasonality. Many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K, often in the first calendar quarter. As of December 31, 2021, the majority of our SEC customers reported their financials on a calendar-year basis. Sales and marketing expense is generally higher in the third quarter since we hold our annual user conference in September. Our transition to a virtual event in September 2020 and September 2021 has mostly mitigated this trend, although we currently intend to sponsor a hybrid virtual and in-person event in 2022. In addition, the timing of the payments of cash bonuses to employees during the first and fourth calendar quarters may result in some seasonality in operating cash flow.
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Key Performance Indicators
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Financial metrics | ||||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 443,285 | $ | 351,594 | $ | 297,891 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in total revenue | 26.1% | 18.0% | 21.9% | |||||||
| Subscription and support revenue | $ | 379,340 | $ | 295,877 | $ | 245,765 | ||||
| Year-over-year percentage increase in subscription and support revenue | 28.2% | 20.4% | 22.6% | |||||||
| Subscription and support as a percent of total revenue | 85.6% | 84.2% | 82.5% |
| As of December 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||
| Operating metrics | |||||||
| Number of customers | 4,315 | 3,723 | 3,510 | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate | 97.0% | 95.0% | 94.7% | ||||
| Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons | 110.0% | 109.5% | 113.0% | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $100k+ | 1,121 | 847 | 652 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $150k+ | 578 | 419 | 285 | ||||
| Number of customers with annual contract value $300k+ | 183 | 119 | 71 |
Total customers. We believe total number of customers is a key indicator of our financial success and future revenue potential. We define a customer as an entity with an active subscription contract as of the measurement date. Our customer is typically a parent company or, in a few cases, a significant subsidiary that works with us directly. Companies with publicly-listed securities account for a substantial majority of our customers.
Subscription and support revenue retention rate. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate based on all customers that were active at the end of the same calendar quarter of the prior year (“base customers”). We begin by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the same calendar quarter of the prior year for those base customers who are still active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
Our subscription and support revenue retention rate was 97.0% as of December 31, 2021, up from 95.0% as of December 31, 2020. We believe that our success in maintaining a high rate of revenue retention is attributable primarily to our robust technology platform and strong customer service. Customers whose securities were deregistered due to merger or acquisition, or financial distress accounted for just over half of our revenue attrition in the latest quarter.
Subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons. Add-on revenue includes the change in both solutions and pricing for existing customers. We calculate our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recorded in the current quarter for our base customers that were active at the end of the current quarter. We divide the result by the annualized subscription and support revenue in the same quarter of the prior year for all base customers.
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Our subscription and support revenue retention rate including add-ons was 110.0% as of the year ended December 31, 2021, up slightly from 109.5% as of December 31, 2020. It is possible that as customers that purchased higher priced capital markets solutions throughout 2021 transition to more moderately priced ongoing solutions in 2022, there could be downward pressure on this key performance indicator.
Annual contract value. Our annual contract value (“ACV”) for each customer is calculated by annualizing the subscription and support revenue recognized during each quarter. We believe the increase in the number of larger contracts shows our progress in expanding our customers’ adoption of our platform.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions to our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. We serve a wide range of customers in many industries, and our revenue is not concentrated with any single customer or small group of customers. For each of the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, no single customer represented more than 1% of our revenue, and our largest 10 customers accounted for less than 5% of our revenue in the aggregate.
We generate sales directly through our sales force and partners. We also identify some sales opportunities with existing customers through our customer success and professional services teams.
Our customer contracts typically range in length from twelve to 36 months. We typically invoice our customers for subscription fees annually in advance. For contracts with a two or three year term, customers sometimes elect to pay the entire multi-year subscription term in advance. Our arrangements do not contain general rights of return.
Subscription and Support Revenue. We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Amounts that are invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue.
Professional Services Revenue. We believe our professional services facilitate the sale of our subscription service to certain customers. To date, most of our professional services have consisted of document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting to help our customers with business processes and best practices for using our platform. Our professional services are not required for customers to utilize our solution. We recognize revenue for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists primarily of personnel and related costs directly associated with our professional services, customer success teams and training personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; the costs of contracted third-party vendors; the costs of server usage by our customers; information technology costs; and facility costs. Costs of server usage are comprised primarily of fees paid to Amazon Web Services.
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Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, commissions, travel, and stock-based compensation. Other costs included in this expense are marketing and promotional events, our annual user conference, online marketing, product marketing, information technology costs, and facility costs. We pay sales commissions for initial contracts and expansions of existing customer contracts. When the relevant amortization period is one year or less, we expense sales commissions as incurred. All other sales commissions are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer and are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be three years.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; costs of server usage by our developers; information technology costs; and facility costs.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel and related costs for our executive, finance and accounting, legal, human resources, and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation; legal, accounting, and other professional service fees; other corporate expenses; information technology costs; and facility costs.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 379,340 | $ | 295,877 | $ | 245,765 | ||||
| Professional services | 63,945 | 55,717 | 52,126 | |||||||
| Total revenue | 443,285 | 351,594 | 297,891 | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support(1) | 60,551 | 49,503 | 42,881 | |||||||
| Professional services(1) | 43,282 | 40,674 | 42,131 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 103,833 | 90,177 | 85,012 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 339,452 | 261,417 | 212,879 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development(1) | 115,735 | 94,844 | 89,921 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 178,785 | 144,687 | 120,300 | |||||||
| General and administrative(1) | 74,287 | 59,688 | 48,064 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 368,807 | 299,219 | 258,285 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (29,355) | (37,802) | (45,406) | |||||||
| Interest income | 1,041 | 3,282 | 4,657 | |||||||
| Interest expense | (14,015) | (13,964) | (6,027) | |||||||
| Other income and (expense), net | 3,229 | (205) | (564) | |||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (39,100) | (48,689) | (47,340) | |||||||
| (Benefit) provision for income taxes | (1,370) | (291) | 139 | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (37,730) | $ | (48,398) | $ | (47,479) |
(1) Stock-based compensation expense included in these line items was as follows:
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 2,868 | $ | 1,709 | $ | 1,554 | ||||
| Professional services | 1,729 | 1,434 | 1,725 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 9,590 | 8,100 | 8,006 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 13,901 | 11,062 | 8,792 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 20,545 | 23,466 | 15,707 | |||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 48,633 | $ | 45,771 | $ | 35,784 |
The following table sets forth our consolidated statement of operations data as a percentage of revenue for each of the periods indicated:
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| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 85.6% | 84.2% | 82.5% | |||||
| Professional services | 14.4 | 15.8 | 17.5 | |||||
| Total revenue | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||
| Subscription and support | 13.7 | 14.1 | 14.4 | |||||
| Professional services | 9.8 | 11.6 | 14.1 | |||||
| Total cost of revenue | 23.5 | 25.7 | 28.5 | |||||
| Gross profit | 76.5 | 74.3 | 71.5 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 26.1 | 27.0 | 30.2 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 40.3 | 41.2 | 40.4 | |||||
| General and administrative | 16.8 | 17.0 | 16.1 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 83.2 | 85.2 | 86.7 | |||||
| Loss from operations | (6.7) | (10.9) | (15.2) | |||||
| Interest income | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.6 | |||||
| Interest expense | (3.2) | (4.0) | (2.0) | |||||
| Other (expense) income, net | 0.7 | (0.1) | (0.2) | |||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (9.0) | (14.1) | (15.8) | |||||
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | (0.3) | (0.1) | — | |||||
| Net loss | (8.7) | % | (14.0) | % | (15.8) | % |
Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 379,340 | $ | 295,877 | $ | 83,463 | 28.2% | ||||||
| Professional services | 63,945 | 55,717 | 8,228 | 14.8% | |||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 443,285 | $ | 351,594 | $ | 91,691 | 26.1% |
Total revenue increased $91.7 million in 2021 compared to 2020 due primarily to the increase in subscription and support revenue of $83.5 million. Growth in subscription and support revenue in 2021 was attributable mainly to strong demand and better pricing for a broad range of use cases. The total number of our customers increased 15.9% from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021. Professional services revenue increased $8.2 million due primarily to growth in revenue from XBRL professional services.
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Cost of Revenue
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||
| Subscription and support | $ | 60,551 | $ | 49,503 | $ | 11,048 | 22.3% | ||||||
| Professional services | 43,282 | 40,674 | 2,608 | 6.4% | |||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | $ | 103,833 | $ | 90,177 | $ | 13,656 | 15.1% |
Cost of revenue increased $13.7 million in 2021 compared to 2020. Subscription and support cost of revenue increased $11.0 million due primarily to $8.5 million higher cash-based compensation and benefits and $1.2 million higher stock-based compensation due to increased headcount, as well as a $1.2 million increase in software and server expense. The increase in cash-based compensation and benefits, stock-based compensation and software and server expense resulted from our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. Professional services cost of revenue increased $2.6 million due primarily to $2.2 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits due to increased headcount.
Operating Expenses
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Amount | % Change | ||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | |||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 115,735 | $ | 94,844 | $ | 20,891 | 22.0% | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 178,785 | 144,687 | 34,098 | 23.6% | |||||||||
| General and administrative | 74,287 | 59,688 | 14,599 | 24.5% | |||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 368,807 | $ | 299,219 | $ | 69,588 | 23.3% |
Research and Development
Research and development expenses increased $20.9 million in 2021 compared to 2020 due primarily to higher cash-based compensation and benefits costs of $16.4 million, a $1.5 million increase in stock-based compensation, a $1.8 million increase in professional service fees and a $0.9 million increase in the cost of software and cloud infrastructure services. The increases in compensation were due to increased headcount. The increases in professional service fees and software and cloud infrastructure services reflect continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses increased $34.1 million in 2021 compared to 2020 due primarily to $27.8 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, an additional $2.8 million in stock-based compensation, a $1.9 million increase in marketing and advertising expense and $2.6 million in software expense. These increases were partially offset by $1.2 million in savings from reduced travel by our sales and marketing employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in cash-based compensation was due to an increase in employee headcount. During 2021, we recognized an additional $1.9 million in stock-based compensation pursuant to severance obligations. The increases in marketing and advertising costs and software expense supports our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased $14.6 million in 2021 compared to 2020, due primarily to $12.6 million in higher cash-based compensation and benefits, a $1.7 million increase in software and cloud infrastructure services, a $1.5 million increase in professional services fees and a $1.3 million increase in rent expense. These increases were partially offset by a $2.1 million decrease in stock-based compensation. In the second quarter of 2020, we recorded an additional $1.5 million and $5.5 million of cash-based and equity-based compensation, respectively, pursuant to certain separation agreements with former executives and managers. The increases in software and professional services fees are the result of our continued investment in and support of our platform and solutions. The increase in rent expense was our investment in office space for our expanding worldwide footprint.
Non-Operating Income (Expenses)
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Year ended December 31, | Period-to-period change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Amount | ||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 1,041 | $ | 3,282 | $ | (2,241) | ||||
| Interest expense | (14,015) | (13,964) | (51) | |||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 3,229 | (205) | 3,434 |
Interest Income, Interest Expense and Other Income (Expense), Net
Interest income fell $2.2 million in 2021 compared to 2020 due to decreased interest rates in our investment accounts. Interest expense remained relatively flat in 2021 compared to 2020. Other expense decreased $3.4 million in 2021 compared to 2020 due primarily to a $3.7 million gain recognized upon the settlement of our equity interest in OneCloud offset by losses on foreign currency transactions.
Results of Operations for Fiscal 2020 Compared to 2019
For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, see “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on February 17, 2021.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview of Sources and Uses of Cash
As of December 31, 2021, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $530.4 million, which were held for working capital purposes. We have financed our operations primarily through the proceeds of offerings of equity, convertible debt, and cash from operating activities. We have generated significant operating losses and negative cash flows from operating activities as reflected in our accumulated deficit and consolidated statements of cash flows. While we expect to continue to incur operating losses and may incur negative cash flows from operations in the future, we believe that current cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of the issuance of the audited consolidated financial statements.
Convertible Debt
In August 2019, we issued $345.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2026, including the exercise in full by the initial purchasers of their option to purchase an additional $45.0 million principal amount. The Notes are senior, unsecured obligations and bear interest at a fixed rate of 1.125% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on February 15 and August 15 of each year, commencing on February 15, 2020. Proceeds from the issuance of the Notes totaled $335.9 million, net of initial purchaser discounts and issuance costs.
During the third and fourth quarters of 2021 one of the conversion conditions was met and the Notes are now convertible at the option of the holders through March 31, 2022. Specifically, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock exceeded 130% of the conversion price of the Notes for more than 20 trading days during the 30 consecutive trading days ended September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Upon conversion, we will pay or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of our Class A common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our Class A common stock, at our election, in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions provided in the indenture. As of December 31, 2021, and through the date of this filing, we have not received any conversion requests for the Notes.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes cash flow activity during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||
| Cash flow provided by operating activities | $ | 49,844 | $ | 33,243 | $ | 30,918 | ||||
| Cash flow used in investing activities | (68,631) | (103,750) | (90,065) | |||||||
| Cash flow (used in) provided by financing activities | (3,388) | 11,118 | 363,018 | |||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents, net of impact of exchange rates | $ | (22,445) | $ | (58,911) | $ | 304,158 |
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Operating Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash provided by operating activities was $49.8 million. The primary factors affecting our operating cash flows during the period were our net loss of $37.7 million, adjusted for non-cash charges of $5.2 million for depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment and intangible assets, $48.6 million of stock-based compensation, $9.2 million for the amortization of our debt discount and issuance costs, $3.0 million for the amortization of premiums and discounts on marketable securities, a $27.3 million net change in operating assets and liabilities partially offset by a gain on the settlement of equity securities of $3.7 million and deferred income tax of $2.0 million. The primary drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $19.2 million increase in deferred contract costs, a $7.7 million increase in accounts receivable, and a $6.5 million increase in prepaid expenses and other, offset by a $47.4 million increase in deferred revenue and a $14.7 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities. Customer growth as well as the prior year impact of the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for most of the increase in deferred revenue. We offer limited incentives for customers to enter into contract terms for more than one year. The increases in accounts receivable and accrued expenses and other liabilities were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments. The increase in prepaid expenses was attributable primarily to the timing of annual contracts. The increase in deferred contract costs was primarily due to additional payments made to our sales force related to the direct and incremental costs of obtaining a customer contract.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, cash provided by operating activities was $33.2 million. The primary factors affecting our operating cash flows during the period were our net loss of $48.4 million, adjusted for non-cash charges of $4.3 million for depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment and intangible assets, $45.8 million of stock-based compensation, $8.9 million for the amortization of our debt discount and issuance costs and a $22.2 million net change in operating assets and liabilities. The primary drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $16.0 million increase in deferred contract costs, an $8.0 million increase in accounts receivable, a $2.5 million increase in prepaid expenses and other, and a $4.1 million decrease in accounts payable, offset by a $37.5 million increase in deferred revenue and a $16.8 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities. Customer growth and contract renewals for longer terms accounted for most of the increase in deferred revenue. We offer limited incentives for customers to enter into contract terms for more than one year. The decrease in accounts payable and increases in accounts receivable and accrued expenses and other liabilities were attributable primarily to the timing of our billings, cash collections, and cash payments. The increase in prepaid expenses was attributable primarily to the timing of annual contracts. The increase in deferred contract costs was primarily due to additional payments made to our sales force related to the direct and incremental costs of obtaining a customer contract.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of $68.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 was due primarily to $170.1 million for the purchase of marketable securities, $37.5 million for acquisitions, net of cash acquired, and $3.5 million of capital expenditures, partially offset by $143.2 million from the maturities of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
Cash used in investing activities of $103.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 was due primarily to $175.9 million for the purchase of marketable securities and $1.9 million of capital expenditures, partially offset by $62.9 million from the maturities of marketable securities and $11.4 million from the sale of marketable securities. Our capital expenditures were associated primarily with computer equipment in support of expanding our infrastructure and work force.
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Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities of $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 was due primarily to $16.6 million in proceeds from option exercises and $8.9 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan, offset by $27.1 million in taxes withheld related to net share settlement of our stock-based compensation awards and an aggregate $1.7 million in payments on finance lease obligations.
Cash provided by financing activities of $11.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 was due primarily to $19.2 million in proceeds from option exercises and $7.2 million in proceeds from shares issued in connection with our employee stock purchase plan, partially offset by $13.7 million in taxes withheld related to net share settlement of our stock-based compensation awards and an aggregate $1.6 million in payments on finance lease obligations.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2021, aggregated by type:
| Payments due by period | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Less than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Convertible senior notes | $ | 364,407 | $ | 3,881 | $ | 7,763 | $ | 352,763 | $ | — | |||||||||
| Operating leases including imputed interest | 26,301 | 6,946 | 9,808 | 4,108 | 5,439 | ||||||||||||||
| Finance leases, including interest | 26,357 | 2,436 | 2,630 | 2,630 | 18,661 | ||||||||||||||
| Other contractual commitments | 38,287 | 13,740 | 24,547 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Total contractual obligations | $ | 455,352 | $ | 27,003 | $ | 44,748 | $ | 359,501 | $ | 24,100 |
Total future payments related to our Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 shown in the table above includes $345.0 million principal amount and future interest payments of $19.4 million. For more information on our convertible senior notes, refer to Note 8 of our accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We have entered into a lease agreement for land and an office building in Ames, Iowa, which was constructed in two phases. The lease term includes an initial 15-year term and three five-year extensions at our option because renewal was determined to be reasonably assured at the inception of the lease. The lease contains purchase options to acquire the landlord’s interest in the land lease and building at any time beginning three years from June 2014 (the commencement date of the second phase of the lease). In addition, the lease requires us to purchase the building from the landlord upon certain events, such as a change in control.
We enter into certain non-cancelable agreements with third-party providers in the ordinary course of business. Under these agreements, we are committed to purchase $31.1 million for cloud infrastructure services and $7.2 million primarily for cloud services. These amounts are included in the table above under “other contractual commitments”.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, provision for income taxes and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of our operations.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of professional services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation
Subscription and Support Revenue
We recognize subscription and support revenue on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts are generally twelve to 36 months in duration, are billed either annually or in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer.
Professional Services Revenue and Customer Options
Professional services revenues primarily consist of fees for document set up, XBRL tagging, and consulting with our customers on business processes and best practices for using our platform. We have determined that an agreement to purchase these professional services constitutes an option to purchase services in accordance with ASC 606 rather than an agreement that creates enforceable rights and obligations because of the customer’s contractual right to cancel services that have not yet been used. In the limited case of agreements where we determined that the option provides the customer with a material right, we allocate a portion of the transaction price to the material right based upon the relative standalone selling price. Professional service agreements that do not contain a material right are accounted for when the customer exercises its option to purchase additional services.
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Revenue is recognized for document set ups when the service is complete and control has transferred to the customer. Revenues from XBRL tagging and consulting services are recognized as the services are performed.
Our professional services revenue is higher in the first calendar quarter because many of our customers employ our professional services just before they file their Form 10-K.
Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations
Some of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. For these contracts, we account for the individual performance obligations separately if they are distinct. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price basis. We determine the standalone selling prices based on our overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and entity-specific factors, including the value of our arrangements, length of term, customer demographics and the numbers and types of users within our arrangements.
While changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements of the arrangement could cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that we report in a particular period, these changes have not historically been significant because our recurring revenue is primarily subscription and support revenue.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 of the notes to consolidated financial statements for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements.
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