Case Study: American Equity Investment Life Holding Company achieves 80% SEC reporting cost savings and faster filings with Workiva

Wdesk Makes Life Easier at American Equity

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, a West Des Moines underwriter of fixed annuity and life insurance products, confronted a slow, redundant and resource‑intensive SEC reporting process that made assembling detailed filings frustrating and time-consuming, with concerns about secure cloud storage as they evaluated new technology.

They adopted Workiva’s Wdesk cloud-based External Reporting Solution to streamline end‑to‑end reporting. The platform enabled faster collaboration, built‑in XBRL tagging and direct SEC filing—cutting quarterly filing time by up to eight days, delivering the 10‑K 14 days early, reducing SEC reporting costs by about 80%, and providing secure cloud storage and improved draft quality.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company

Steven Harms

Assistant Vice President of Accounting Research