NCAA Agreed Upon Procedures: What’s New in 2025…and What’s Next

As collegiate athletics undergoes significant change, the NCAA’s financial reporting framework is adapting in parallel. The 2025 edition of the NCAA Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) Guide introduces several significant updates that reflect the increasing complexity of revenues and expenses in college sports. These changes aim to enhance transparency and improve comparability across institutions.

Below, we break down the most notable changes and offer our perspective on what these shifts mean for your athletics program.

Key 2025 NCAA AUP Reporting Changes

• Institutional NIL Revenue Share: With the introduction of revenue-sharing payments tied to the House settlement, institutions will now report these expenses in a dedicated category (44). This addition enhances transparency distinguishing payments made to student-athletes beyond scholarships and enhanced educational benefits.
• Enhanced Educational Benefits (Alston Awards): Payments related to the Alston decision must now be reported in their own category (43), rather than being grouped under other operating expenses (40). This update offers a clearer picture of how institutions are investing in the academic success of student-athletes.
• Post-season Expenses: Institutions are now required to report all post-season expenses by sport—not just football bowl games. This change provides greater visibility into the budgetary impact of NCAA championship participation across all athletic programs. This includes adding a new subcategory (41B) to capture additional post-season football expenses, and the introduction of a new category (42, 42A, 42B) to include post-season expenses related to all other sports. The category definitions for Coaching Compensation (22 & 23), Team Travel (28), Sports, Equipment, Uniforms and Supplies (29), Game Expenses (30), and Spirit Groups (33) were also updated to note that any expenses related to NCAA championships should be reported in categories 41 (football) or 42 (non-football).
• NCAA and Conference Distributions: NCAA distributions (12) is now split into three subcategories to separate out NCAA revenue distributions and grants (12A), NCAA host revenue settlements (12B), and NCAA post-season expense reimbursements (12C). Likewise, the conference distributions subcategory 13A has been clarified to include distributions for post-season play in all sports (not only football bowl).
• Facilities Maintenance and Operations: Expenses related to facility maintenance and operations must now be reported in a new category (35A) separately from the general “direct overhead” category (35). This adjustment enhances transparency into infrastructure costs and helps clarify what truly qualifies as overhead within athletic department budgets.

Updates to Agreed-Upon Procedures

• Procedure #12a covering NCAA distributions has been updated to cover each of the new subcategories (see above).
• Procedure #35a has been updated to cover testing over both direct overhead and administrative expenses (35) and facilities maintenance and operations (35A)
• Procedure #41a covering post-season football expenses has been updated to cover each of the related subcategories (41, 41A and 41B)
• New Procedures introduced:
  • Procedure #42a will cover post-season expenses for other (non-football) sports in categories 42, 42A and 42B.
  • Procedure #43a will cover enhanced educational expenses (Alston) in category 43
  • Procedure #44a will cover institutional NIL and revenue share expenses in category 44

Other General Updates

• Bylaw Updates: The NCAA Bylaw requiring institutions to submit financial data on an annual basis is now Bylaw 20.2.4.18.

Looking Ahead: The Bigger Picture

While these 2025 changes are substantial, they represent just the beginning of a broader realignment of financial reporting in college athletics. The House v. NCAA settlement has introduced the concept of revenue sharing caps, and the NCAA Financial Reporting System (FRS) will play a central role in determining those caps. However, the House settlement is complex, and we anticipate more significant changes to financial reporting categories and audit procedures to come in 2026.

As always, we encourage athletic departments to treat the NCAA AUP not just as a compliance exercise, but as a strategic tool. The 2025 updates offer an opportunity to better align internal budgeting practices with evolving external standards — ultimately leading to more meaningful benchmarking, better financial storytelling and improved decision-making.

James Moore’s Collegiate Athletics CPAs are committed to advocating for the financial voices in college athletics. We were glad to play a part in connecting college athletics business managers nationwide with the NCAA throughout process of updating the 2025 NCAA AUP guide. The conversations and feedback from professionals across the country were essential in shaping updates that more accurately reflect the operational and financial realities athletic departments face today.

If you have questions about how these changes affect your institution or would like support in preparing your NCAA AUP, reach out to the James Moore Collegiate Athletics team today. We’re here to help you get it right.

Access the complete 2025 NCAA AUP guide.

All content provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Matters discussed in this article are subject to change. For up-to-date information on this subject please contact a James Moore professional. James Moore will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any information within these pages or any information accessed through this site.