In late December 2015, the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office issued Bulletin 2015-007 regarding the required annual financial report filing by public offices (including public libraries).

The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide comprehensive guidance related to required annual financial report filings by public offices and other entities required to file and includes changes to Auditor of State (AOS) policy regarding:

• The new mandatory method for filing via the AOS’ Hinkle Annual Financial Data Reporting System (Hinkle System – formerly known as AFDRS);
• The change to require non-generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP) basis financial statements to include notes to the financial statements as part of the annual financial report filing; and
• The change in AOS policy to require the financial statements filed via the Hinkle System to be audited beginning with periods ending in 2016.

The Bulletin also reiterates and/or updates previous guidance related to:

• The statutory annual financial report filing requirements, including the public offices and other entities required to file, and the amendment to Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) §117-2-03(B) requiring government insurance pools to file GAAP financial statements;
• The required components of financial statements for different bases of accounting;
• The filing due date extension requests; and
• The impact of non-compliant filings, including possible “unauditable” declarations when entities fail to submit in accordance with the requirement.

Go the Auditor of State’s website to see the complete Bulletin 2015-007