2020 Technical Bulletins

2020-008 Auditor of State Regulatory Cash Basis Financial Reporting Framework — Fund Balance Classification Reporting Revisions

The purpose of this Bulletin is to communicate revisions to simplify the reporting of fund balance classifications in the AOS regulatory cash basis financial statements and footnotes.

2020-007 Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) COVID-19 Rebates/Dividends

On November 2, 2020, the BWC Board of Directors approved Governor Mike DeWine’s request to send $5 billion in dividends to Ohio employers to ease COVID-19’s continued impact on the state’s business community and workforce. This is the third dividend declared and paid in 2020, bringing total dividend dollars for employers to nearly $8 billion this year to ease the financial pressure on private and public employers during the pandemic. This bulletin addresses questions from local government officials asking to which funds they should apportion the dividend.

2020-006 Cash Collections—Best Practices

This bulletin provides general background related to the importance of good internal controls, policies, and procedures related to cash collections and deposit requirements, as well as specific guidance related to implementing and managing these controls for school district athletic events and agricultural society events.

2020-005 Hourly Billing Rates and Allocation of Audit Costs

2020-004 Estimating Historical Costs of Capital Assets Using the Consumer Price Index

2020-003 GASB 84: Fiduciary Activities

GASB 84 includes guidance for identifying fiduciary activities for accounting and financial reporting purposes and how those activities should be reported.

The GASB issued an Implementation Guide to supplement the guidance found in GASB 84. The Guide is organized in a question-and-answer format.

The requirements of this Statement apply to all Ohio state and local governments that prepare Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Statements, including those with a GAAP reporting requirement per Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 117-02-03(B). Some other governments may be subject to GAAP reporting requirements, such as through a debt covenant.

GASB 84 is effective for financial statements for periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Meaning, governments with a December 31 fiscal year end must apply it to their December 31, 2019, GAAP financial statements; school districts and other governments with a June 30 fiscal year-end must apply GASB 84 to their June 30, 2020, GAAP financial statements. Guidance from the implementation guide will also be effective at this time.

Any local governments that early implemented GASB 84 will also need to apply the guidance from the implementation guide.

2020-002 Hourly Audit Rates and Allocation of Audit Costs

2020-001 Fraud Hotline