The PKF Accountants and Business Advisers study, Leagues Apart, depicts a scene where clubs outside the Premier League are precariously balanced financially while teams in the top flight revel in greater riches than ever before.
Researchers spoke to directors at 62 clubs in the Premier League, Football League and Scottish Premier League.
They revealed that 66 per cent of clubs were expecting to make a loss, before player trading and amortisation in their next accounting period. This is up from 42 per cent in last year's survey.
Fifty-eight per cent of clubs were reliant on investment from shareholders to cover operating losses. There was a significant difference between Premier League (44 per cent) and Championship (87 per cent).
Forty-six per cent of League One clubs expected ticket sales to be down this season due to the global recession, with 54 per cent predicting a drop in sponsorship revenue too. Only 38 per cent of League One clubs said their financial position was "very healthy".
"The divide between rich and poor in football is growing wider. You simply need to contrast the fortunes of Premier League giants such as Manchester United, which recently tapped Wall Street for funding, with lower league sides such as Port Vale and Portsmouth, which are both in administration, to get a good idea of what is happening in football club boardrooms across the country," said Charles Bennett, head of PKF's Football Industry Group.
“With match day revenues continuing to decline, operating costs still rising and a growing reliance on the generosity of major shareholders, many clubs outside of the Premier League elite are balanced precariously on the knife edge between survival and insolvency.
“This tension is particularly evident in the Championship, where many clubs gamble with their very survival for a shot at entry to the Promised Land of the Premier League. The dilemma is there for all to see – find a generous benefactor, spend more than you earn, gain promotion and pay the fines; or play by the rules and settle for mediocrity.
“The benefactor model can seem appealing because it has delivered instant success on the pitch in some high-profile cases, but it is inherently unstable – you only need to look at recent history to see what can happen when such a set-up comes crashing down."
The report suggested a number of clubs still struggled to meet tax commitments and remain within Uefa financial restrictions.
Sixteen per cent of clubs interviewed had made more than one late payment to HM Revenue & Customs, though this is down from 20 per cent in 2011.
And 15 per cent were not expecting to comply with Uefa's financial fair play rules. Swindon - who host Scunthorpe on Saturday - are the first League One club to fall foul of these new restrictions, with a transfer embargo imposed due to spending more than 65 per cent of their income on players.
There were also signs of football clubs taking more serious steps to balance the books than before, with 58 per cent budgeting less than 55 per cent of their income on wages, up from 46 per cent last year. Half of respondents expected reduced first-team squads due to financial concerns.
“While there is some evidence of financial restraint and more robust attempts by clubs to curb the excesses of player wages, it is difficult to be too optimistic about the long-term prospects of the football industry outside the Premier League, unless there is strict adherence to the financial fair play and salary cap regulations," added Barnett.
“The responses to this latest survey suggest a growing number of football club boards recognise the current situation is unsustainable and are at least trying to do something about it. However, boosting revenues when the economy remains in the doldrums and slashing payroll costs when competing for talent internationally is easier said than done.
"Clubs are making the right noises but I suspect that many will need to urgently review their five-year-plans with a strong dose of realism if the industry is going to make it through the next few years without any further insolvency cases.”
Scunthorpe United are due to release their accounts for 2011/12 in the next few weeks, with a large loss recorded.