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State Accounting Fiscal Essentials . SAFE Policy Manual |
Revised: 07/01/2014 |
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State Accounting Fiscal Essentials . SAFE Policy Manual |
Revised: 07/01/2014 |
Applicable or Related Code Sections
ORC Section 126.21 (A)(9) - Accounting duties of director of budget and management
Related Links
OBM State Accounting is responsible for the preparation of the annual statewide financial statements for the state of Ohio. The financial statements are reported for the fiscal year ending June 30 with a targeted annual release in December.
The financial reporting section within OBM State Accounting uses the following high-level process for preparing the annual statewide financial statements:
| Activity | Date |
| OBM implements newly effective accounting pronouncements and analyzes changes to funds which impact financial reporting. |
Spring |
| OBM requests financial information from approximately 40 state agencies in the form of GAAP Reporting Packages. These typically include requests for data related to receivables, payables and note disclosures. |
Early Summer
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| OBM requests copies of separately audited financial statements and other relevant information from approximately 35 entities such as Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Lottery Commission, and the state universities and community colleges. |
Early Summer
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| After year end, OBM obtains the fiscal year cash-basis balances and activities for more than 1,500 OAKS FIN funds and consolidates the data by similar program/function into roughly 50 financial statement combining funds. |
Summer
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| OBM prepares journal entries from information obtained from agency GAAP Reporting Packages, separately audited financial statements and other relevant sources. This information is combined with the cash-basis amounts in OAKS FIN to develop the accrual-basis statewide financial statements. |
Fall
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| OBM compiles other financial information such as the Management Discussion and Analysis, budgetary statements, combined and combining financial statements, and required note disclosures. This process includes obtaining pending litigation from the Ohio Attorney General and management representations from state senior management. |
Fall |
| Statewide financial statements and workpapers are provided to the Auditor of State for independent audit assurance. |
Late Fall |
The state is a primary government consisting of all organizations that make up its legal entity. All funds, elected officials, departments and agencies, bureaus, boards, commissions and authorities that are not legally separate from the state of Ohio are, for financial reporting purposes, part of the primary government. The state of Ohio administers a wide range of services to its citizenry through its agencies that were established and authorized under the Ohio Revised Code. Examples include all cabinet-level agencies (such as the Office of Budget and Management and Department of Administrative Services), Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Ohio Lottery Commission, all elected officials, and licensing state boards and commissions.
Other public services are provided by various quasi-state agencies and public benefit organizations. The activities and financial transactions of these organizations may be entirely or partially accounted for in accounting systems that are independent and separate from that of the state agencies'. When the primary government is financially accountable for such an organization, the organization is considered to be a component unit and part of the government's reporting entity. Component units may also include other organizations for which the nature and significance of their relationship with the primary government are such that exclusion would cause the reporting entity's financial statements to be misleading or incomplete even though the primary government is not financially accountable for them. Examples of the state's component units are Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority, Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, and the state universities and community colleges.
The state's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) presents the balances and activities of the state's entire reporting entity along with related note disclosures.
When the primary government appoints the voting majority of the board of an organization but is not financially accountable for the organization, it is classified as a related organization. Examples include Ohio Water Development Authority and Ohio Housing Finance Agency. When a primary government pools resources or shares in the operations of an organization with another primary government, the organization is considered to be a joint venture. Examples of the state's joint ventures are Great Lakes Protection Fund and the state's local community and technical colleges. Limited note disclosures regarding related organizations and joint ventures are included in the state's ACFR.
For a complete agency listing of the primary government, component units, related organizations, and joint ventures, see the State of Ohio Organization Chart in the Introduction section of the current state ACFR.
