Among emergency or noncontroversial legislation adopted by the Board of Directors at its August 5 meeting is one item of particular interest to institutional and athletics business officers.

The proposal (No. 04-23) replaces the NCAA financial audit guidelines with a set of agreed-upon procedures in which athletics-related revenues, expenses and capital-expenditure data will be subject to a review by an independent accountant before submission to the NCAA. The new legislation specifies that Division I institutions report financial data annually for or on behalf of a Division I member institution's intercollegiate athletics program, including those by only affiliated or outside organizations. The measure eliminates the exception currently available to member institutions with an athletics operating budget of less than $300,000. Division II will be subject to the agreed-upon procedures once every three years. Division III institutions will continue to be exempt from the independent review.

These changes, recommended by NCAA national office staff, with input from representatives of National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), National Association of College and University Auditors (NACUA) and professional independent accounting firms, will result in more accurate reporting of financial information and will align data collection with federal EADA and NCAA financial reporting. The revised financial reporting improves revenue and expense definitions and includes missing data elements that have been excluded in prior reporting. Also, moving the NCAA's submission dates from October 15 to January 15 will allow audited data to be reported.

The new procedures also will enhance accountability by requiring approval from the institution's chief executive officer and will increase effectiveness by minimizing the overall time demands and increase the efficiency to collect/report data through an online system.

The NCAA will roll out a new online Web-based reporting system this fall for data collection and reporting, and the deadline for data submission will be January 15, 2005. However, institutions will need to be in compliance with the new agreed-upon procedures no later than January 15, 2006, for the data and reporting submitted for the 2004-05 academic year. Institutions may choose to follow the old financial reporting guidelines for the 2003-04 academic year.

The reporting required for the EADA will continue to have a October 15 reporting date. The NCAA has been in discussion with the U.S. Department of Education to align the NCAA and EADA reporting dates to January 15, though to date no resolution has been reached.