b'Ohio Auditor of State 2021 Annual ReportIndependent Public Accountants (IPA) By theThe AOS relies on the assistance of, and contracts with, IPAs tonumbersperform statutorily required audits of each public office.From July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, the AOS releasedJuly 2020 through approximately 1,704 financial audit reports performed by IPAs,June 2021including 1,475 traditional financial audits and 229 Agreed Upon4,029Procedures engagements.During fiscal year 2021, the CFAE performed about 48 workingTotal reports paper reviews of IPA firms and completed eight internal AOSreleasedregional audit report and workpaper reviews. IPA firms interested in bidding on financial audits must register3,680at the online IPA portal and be approved by the Auditor of StatesFinancial audits office. There are 68 active IPA firms registered with the office. ThereleasedIPA portal allows the firms to:Express interest in audit contracts. $4.8 millionView bid requests. Findings for Update firm information. recovery issued View their scores and report status. from 96 reportsView client details and Hinkle System filings.Process client invoices.Process client contract modifications.The IPA portal allows firms to express interest in audit contracts,Audits performedview bid requests, update firm information, view their scores andby both AOS and report status, view client details and Hinkle System filings, processindependent client invoices, and process client contract modifications. public accounting Hinkle System Annual Financial Data firms included:Reporting SystemThe Hinkle System is an online app that allows financial statementsFinancial and and debt and demographic data to be uploaded to the AOS. compliance During FY 2021, financial statements from 5,606 entitiesauditswere filed through the Hinkle Systemabout 97 percent of Agreed-upon the entities required to file reports during the year.procedure (AUP) The data and the unaudited financial statement documentengagements filed via the Hinkle System is posted on the AOS website, increasing public access and transparency. In March 2020, with the extraordinary circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 emergency, AOS extended the due date for entities statutorily required to file their unaudited financial statements which resulted in a 10 percent increase in the number of financial statement filings in FY 2021.The Hinkle System is used to compile the Financial Health Indicators for counties and cities.EfficientlEffectivelTransparent11'