Every dated change to a US finance licensing exam, 2026 and 2027
13 rows, machine-readable: JSON · CSV. Free to reuse and cite with attribution to Every Exam Prep and a link to the report URL.
Eight regulators set the rules for the exams that license US financial work, and each announces a change on its own page, in its own format, on its own schedule. There is no shared calendar. The result is that a change is silent: a study guide written in 2025 still reads as current, and the candidate finds out in the test centre. This page is the calendar — 13 dated changes across 8 regulators, each with the sentence the regulator actually published.
4 of the 13 have not taken effect yet. The next falls on 31 December 2026 — Every FINRA registration category, FINRA: 2026 Regulatory Element continuing education. The rest already have, which makes them the more useful half of the table — those are the ones prep material still describes wrongly.
The second table is the point of the page: the regulator's own sentence for each change, verbatim, so a claim about the SIE's pretest count or the SEE's tax year can be checked against its source in one step rather than five.
The changes, by effective date
Oldest first, because the ones already in effect are the ones that make existing study material wrong. A row's source is the regulator's own announcement, not a prep site's summary of it.
Read a dash in the before column as "the regulator did not publish the prior value in this document" — not as "there was none". Where a change was published as a table of figures rather than a sentence, the quote column in the next section is empty rather than filled with a sentence written backwards from the number.
| What changed | Exams | Regulator | Before → after | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unscored pretest items delivered with the exam | SIE, Series 7, Series 79 | FINRA | 10 → 5 | 27 October 2025 | finra.org |
| Blueprints replaced | CPA — all sections | AICPA | The 2026 Blueprints | 1 January 2026 | aicpa-cima.com |
| Exam fee | SIE, Series 7, Series 79 | FINRA | SIE $80; Series 7 and Series 79 $300 → SIE $100; Series 7 and Series 79 $395 | 2026 — the schedule holds these levels through 2029 | finra.org |
| One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) questions enter the exam | CFP® exam | CFP Board | Not tested → Tested | March 2026 exam | cfp.net |
| CIMA® added to the Accelerated Path credentials | CFP® certification | CFP Board | Not accepted → Accepted | Q2 2026 | cfp.net |
| Testing window | Enrolled Agent (SEE) — all three parts | IRS | 1 July 2026 to 28 February 2027; no testing in March or April | 1 July 2026 | irs.gov |
| The tax law the questions are written to | Enrolled Agent (SEE) — all three parts | IRS | The Code, forms and publications as amended through 31 December 2025; questions relate to calendar year 2025 | Window opened 1 July 2026 | irs.gov |
| Fee per examination part | Enrolled Agent (SEE) — per part | IRS | $317 | Current window | irs.gov |
| OBBBA (H.R. 1) provisions become eligible for testing | CPA — REG and TCP | AICPA | Not testable → Testable — provisions with 2024 and 2025 effective dates | 1 July 2026 | aicpa-cima.com |
| 2026 Regulatory Element continuing education | Every FINRA registration category | FINRA | Assigned courses must be completed by 31 December 2026 or the registration goes CE inactive | 31 December 2026 | finra.org |
| Waiting period after a third unsuccessful attempt | Series 63, Series 65, Series 66 | NASAA | 180 days → 60 days | 4 January 2027 | nasaa.org |
| Minimum continuing education | CFP® certification | CFP Board | 30 hours every two years → 40 hours every two years, up to 5 of them practice management | Q4 2027 — moved from Q1 2027 on 1 September 2026 | cfp.net |
| Pro bono hours counting toward the experience requirement | CFP® certification | CFP Board | Not counted → Up to 500 of the 6,000 hours | Q4 2027 — moved from Q2 2027 on 1 September 2026 | cfp.net |
Verified 2026-09-18. "Effective" is the regulator's own wording: some name a date, some a quarter, some the administration or testing window the change first applies to. A change dated only to a quarter is sorted here by that quarter's first day.
In the regulator's own words
The sentence behind each row, copied from the cited document. This is the part a citing site or an assistant needs and the part that is hardest to find: most of these live inside a news post, a weekly compliance update or an FAQ answer that carries its own "updated" date rather than in the exam page a candidate would think to read.
| Change | What the document says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FINRA — Unscored pretest items delivered with the exam | “Effective Oct. 27, FINRA will reduce the number of unscored, or pretest, questions delivered to candidates on the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Series 7—General Securities Representative, and Series 79—Investment Banking Representative exams. Candidates who take these exams will receive five unscored questions instead of 10. The duration of these exams will not change.” | finra.org |
| AICPA — Blueprints replaced | “Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 1, 2026” | aicpa-cima.com |
| CFP Board — One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) questions enter the exam | “The March 2026 CFP® exam will be the first exam to include OBBBA-related questions.” | cfp.net |
| CFP Board — CIMA® added to the Accelerated Path credentials | “Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) certification will be added to the list of approved Accelerated Path credentials.” | cfp.net |
| IRS — Testing window | “The current test window is July 1, 2026, to Feb. 28, 2027, for U.S. domestic candidates. Testing is unavailable during the months of March and April while the examination is being updated.” | irs.gov |
| IRS — The tax law the questions are written to | “All references on the examination are to the Internal Revenue Code, forms and publications, as amended through Dec. 31, 2025. Also, unless otherwise stated, all questions relate to the calendar year 2025.” | irs.gov |
| IRS — Fee per examination part | “There is a $317 fee per part paid at the time of appointment scheduling.” | irs.gov |
| AICPA — OBBBA (H.R. 1) provisions become eligible for testing | “The AICPA Board of Examiners determined that provisions with 2024 and 2025 effective dates become eligible for testing in REG and TCP starting July 1, 2026, with later provisions phasing in six months after their effective dates.” | aicpa-cima.com |
| NASAA — Waiting period after a third unsuccessful attempt | “The revision will shorten the waiting period for candidates after their third unsuccessful attempt from 180 days to 60 days, allowing candidates the ability to retest 120 days earlier. The new waiting period will take effect January 4, 2027.” | nasaa.org |
| CFP Board — Minimum continuing education | “The minimum CE requirement will increase to 40 hours every two years.” | cfp.net |
| CFP Board — Pro bono hours counting toward the experience requirement | “Candidates may count up to 500 hours of qualified pro bono financial planning toward the 6,000-hour Standard Pathway experience requirement.” | cfp.net |
Quoted verbatim. Where a regulator published the change as a figure in a schedule rather than as prose — FINRA's fee table and the CE notice — the change appears in the table above but not here, because there is no sentence to quote.
One law, three exams, three different dates
The single largest change in this table is not an exam change at all: it is a tax law. H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was signed on 4 July 2025, and it reaches the three credentials that test federal tax on three different dates — because each body has a different rule for when new law becomes testable, and none of them is "when it passes".
That is why a candidate can sit two tax exams three months apart and be tested on two different bodies of law. It is also why "is OBBBA on the exam?" has no single answer: the honest answer names the credential and the sitting.
| Credential | First administration that tests OBBBA | The rule that sets the date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFP® exam | March 2026 sitting | CFP Board named the administration directly: the March 2026 exam is the first to carry OBBBA questions. | cfp.net |
| CPA — REG and TCP | 1 July 2026 | Tax changes are testable in the calendar quarter beginning six months after the effective or enactment date, whichever is later; the Board of Examiners set 1 July 2026 for provisions effective in 2024 and 2025, with later ones phasing in six months after their own dates. | aicpa-cima.com |
| Enrolled Agent (SEE) | The window that opened 1 July 2026 | The SEE does not name the law; it names a cut-off. Questions are written to the Code as amended through 31 December 2025 and relate to calendar year 2025 — and OBBBA was signed on 4 July 2025, inside that line. | irs.gov |
What did not change
A changelog is only trustworthy if it also reports the silence. These regulators were checked on the same date and had announced nothing for 2026 or 2027 — which is a finding, not a gap: it means a page describing these exams does not need revisiting.
| Regulator | Exams | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSRB | Series 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 | No content-outline or format change announced for 2026 or 2027 on the MSRB's professional qualification pages. | msrb.org |
| NFA | Series 3, 30, 31, 32, 34 | No 2026 or 2027 revision announced on NFA's study-outlines page for the futures industry exams. | nfa.futures.org |
| NMLS / CSBS | SAFE MLO national test | The content outline carries no 2026 or 2027 revision and no version date. Its standing instruction is that candidates are responsible for keeping abreast of changes to the applicable statutes, regulations and rules regardless of whether they appear on the outline or the test. | mortgage.nationwidelicensingsystem.org |
Checked against each regulator's own qualification pages on the verification date. A later announcement would appear in the table above, not here.
Method
- — Every row starts from the regulator's own published document — a news release, a rule filing, a weekly compliance update, a testing handbook or an FAQ answer — read on 2026-09-18. Prep-provider summaries were used to find candidate changes and never as the source for one: each row's figure and date come from the regulator's page, and a change that could not be traced to one was left out.
- — The quote column is a verbatim span of the cited document. Where a change was published as a table cell — FINRA's year-by-year fee schedule — no quote is shown rather than a sentence reconstructed around the figure.
- — The "before" value is only filled where the citing document states it. Several documents publish the new value alone; inferring the old one from last year's page would put an unsourced number in a table whose whole purpose is that its numbers are sourced.
- — Effective dates are reproduced in the regulator's own unit. CFP Board dates its Competency Standards changes by quarter and revised several of them on 1 September 2026; both the current quarter and the fact of the revision are shown, because prep material written between January and August 2026 carries the superseded dates.
- — Regulators with nothing to report are listed rather than omitted, and their sources are cited the same way, so a reader can tell a checked silence from an unchecked one.
Sources
The documents this page was checked against, with the date each was read. Every number above traces to one of them.
- 1Weekly Update — Pretest Questions to be Reduced for Key Securities Exams — FINRA, read September 18, 2026.SIE, Series 7, Series 79: Unscored pretest items delivered with the exam.
- 2Learn what is tested on the CPA Exam — AICPA, read September 18, 2026.CPA — all sections: Blueprints replaced.
- 3Fee Adjustment Schedule (SR-FINRA-2024-019) — FINRA, read September 18, 2026.SIE, Series 7, Series 79: Exam fee.
- 4New Law, New Resources: Prepare for What's Ahead — CFP Board, read September 18, 2026.CFP® exam: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) questions enter the exam.
- 5CFP Board Announces Updates to the Competency Standards — CFP Board, read September 18, 2026.CFP® certification: CIMA® added to the Accelerated Path credentials.
- 6Enrolled agents: Frequently asked questions — IRS, read September 18, 2026.Enrolled Agent (SEE) — all three parts: Testing window.
- 7The new CPA Exam, two years in — AICPA, read September 18, 2026.CPA — REG and TCP: OBBBA (H.R. 1) provisions become eligible for testing.
- 8Information Notice 8/3/26 — Continuing Education Requirements — FINRA, read September 18, 2026.Every FINRA registration category: 2026 Regulatory Element continuing education.
- 9NASAA Approves Updated Waiting Period for Series 63, 65, and 66 Exam Retests — NASAA, read September 18, 2026.Series 63, Series 65, Series 66: Waiting period after a third unsuccessful attempt.
- 10Professional Qualification — MSRB, read September 18, 2026.Series 50, 51, 52, 53, 54: checked for an announced change, none found.
- 11Study Outlines for Futures Industry Exams — NFA, read September 18, 2026.Series 3, 30, 31, 32, 34: checked for an announced change, none found.
- 12SAFE MLO National Test with Uniform State Content Outline — NMLS / CSBS, read September 18, 2026.SAFE MLO national test: checked for an announced change, none found.
Questions
- Did the SIE and Series 7 get shorter?
- Slightly, and only in the part that was never scored. From 27 October 2025 FINRA delivers 5 unscored pretest questions on the SIE, Series 7 and Series 79 instead of 10, so the SIE shows 80 questions rather than 85 and the Series 7 shows 130 rather than 135. The scored count, the time limit and the passing standard are unchanged — FINRA's notice says the duration of these exams will not change.
- Is OBBBA tested on the CPA Exam?
- Yes, on REG and TCP, from 1 July 2026. The AICPA Board of Examiners made provisions with 2024 and 2025 effective dates eligible from that date; provisions that take effect in 2026 or later follow the standing rule and become testable in the calendar quarter beginning six months after their own effective date. Candidates who sat before 1 July 2026 did not see OBBBA content.
- Which tax law does the current Enrolled Agent exam test?
- For the window running 1 July 2026 to 28 February 2027, the IRS writes the questions to the Internal Revenue Code, forms and publications as amended through 31 December 2025, and unless stated otherwise every question relates to calendar year 2025. Because OBBBA was signed on 4 July 2025, its 2025 provisions fall inside that cut-off.
- When does the Series 63, 65 and 66 retake wait change?
- On 4 January 2027. NASAA approved shortening the wait after a third unsuccessful attempt from 180 days to 60 — 120 days earlier than today — and announced it on 10 August 2026. The 30-day waits after the first and second attempts are unchanged, and nothing changes for an attempt before that date.
- Did the CFP® certification requirements change?
- The exam itself did not; the surrounding standards did. CFP Board approved updates in January 2026 — CIMA® added to the Accelerated Path in Q2 2026, continuing education rising from 30 to 40 hours, and up to 500 pro bono hours counting toward the 6,000-hour experience requirement. On 1 September 2026 CFP Board moved several of those effective dates to Q4 2027, so material published earlier in 2026 quotes Q1 and Q2 2027.
- Are the FINRA exam fees going up again?
- Not before 2030 on the current filing. The 2026 increases — the SIE from $80 to $100, the Series 7 and Series 79 from $300 to $395 — are the last step in the fee adjustment schedule filed as SR-FINRA-2024-019, which holds those levels through 2029.
- Which finance exams did not change?
- Three regulators announced nothing for 2026 or 2027: the MSRB for the Series 50 to 54, the NFA for the Series 3, 30, 31, 32 and 34, and NMLS for the SAFE MLO national test. They were checked on 2026-09-18 and are listed on this page so that a checked silence is distinguishable from an unchecked one.
Citing this page? Link to https://www.everyexamprep.com/reports/finance-license-exam-changes and include the verification date — a census is a snapshot, and these publishers change what they release without notice.