Reading have been deducted six points by the English Football League for breaching the terms of an agreed business plan for a previous profit and sustainability rule breach.
It marks the first decision handed down by the independent club financial reporting unit (CFRU).
The deduction leaves Reading 20th in the Championship, with 40 points, one above the relegation zone.
Manager Paul Ince said last week he thought the punishment was coming.
In addition, Reading have agreed a new budget with the CFRU, which will be finalised once the club's full profit and sustainability review has been completed for the current season.
The club accepted it had not "sufficiently satisfied" elements of the planned budget.
"Despite radical changes implemented at first team level and right across the structure of the business to its very core - and a rigid adherence to a strict league-monitored wage structure and transfer embargo, the club accepts that it has not sufficiently satisfied certain elements of the planned budget," their statement said.
"As a result, the independent club financial review panel has been unable to ratify that the club has met its forecast for compliance."
The club's transfer embargo, which has been in place since the summer of 2021, will "effectively end" this summer, they added.
More to follow.
