The DATA Act of 2014: Data Transparency in the Federal Government's Financial Reporting System

Abstract

Congress enacted the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act in 2014 for the purpose of improving the information available to the public in regards to spending by the Federal government. Specifically, the DATA Act called for the establishment of data standardization of financial reporting within government agencies in order to provide "reliable and searchable Government-wide spending data that is displayed accurately. . . on USASpending.gov" (Digital Accountability and Transparency Act). The United States Department of Treasury ("the Treasury"), the federal agency tasked with the collection and publication of consolidated federal spending information, redeveloped the USASpending.gov website from its original format established in 2006 in compliance with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. In meeting the DATA Act's goal of providing reliable and searchable government spending data, the Treasury collected feedback from public users and government financial managers on how to improve the USASpending.gov website. Ostensibly, access to better data on a user-friendly website enables more effective decision-making by Federal government constituents, including government financial managers, taxpayers, and others. In this paper, I directly explore that conjecture, namely: Did the enhanced streamlining of data systems and additional sharing of Federal spending data with the public change users' perceptions of the reliability and searchability of said data published on the improved USASpending.gov website?