AccreditedNow to File Comment Supporting the SEC's Proposed Expansion of Accredited-Investor Credentials

FISHERS, Ind. — October 4, 2026

AccreditedNow, a service that provides CPA-signed accredited-investor verification for Regulation D Rule 506(c) offerings, today said it will file a public comment supporting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently proposed expansion of the ways an individual can qualify as an accredited investor, while urging the Commission to keep third-party verification meaningful.

On September 30, 2026, the SEC proposed six new credential and knowledge pathways to accredited-investor status — a U.S. CPA license, a CFA charter, a CFP certification, the FINRA Series 79 and Series 86/87 licenses, and a new accredited-investor examination to be developed by FINRA (SEC press release 2026-96; file numbers 4-931 through 4-935). The proposals are open for public comment and are not final rules; none of the new credentials qualifies anyone today.

AccreditedNow said it supports broadening credential-based access — a meaningful credential reflects examined competence, not a loophole — but that the value of any credential pathway depends on the credential being verified: confirmed genuinely held, currently active and in good standing, and matched to the investor who claims it.

The company noted that the credential pathway is not new. Since the SEC's 2020 order under Rule 501(a)(10), a natural person holding an active FINRA Series 7, 65, or 82 license has qualified as an accredited investor regardless of income or net worth. AccreditedNow already verifies those cases by confirming the license on the public FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure records, with a licensed CPA signing the verification letter — a flat $49, with no income or asset documents required. Its standard individual verification, which reviews income or net-worth documentation, is $99.

AccreditedNow said its comment will encourage the Commission to treat a documented, independent confirmation — by a licensed professional, or a reviewed check of the relevant official registry that also confirms the investor's identity matches the credential — as satisfying an issuer's reasonable-steps obligation under Rule 506(c), and, for the proposed examination, to maintain a verifiable record of passage so issuers can rely on it.

Full plain-English background on the proposals is available on the AccreditedNow blog: What the SEC's proposed new accredited-investor credentials mean.

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