Understand and Manage Delegation

Sept. 10, 2024

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What is Delegation? 

Delegation is a process by which a filer can give an EDGAR account the ability to make filings on the filer’s EDGAR account. A filer may delegate authority to file on its EDGAR account to any EDGAR account, however, the filer should take care only to delegate authority to an EDGAR account with which the filer has an agreement regarding EDGAR filing. 

  • For example, a filer could delegate authority to file to a filing agent, law firm, broker-dealer, related corporate entity, or other EDGAR account with which the filer has an agreement regarding EDGAR filing.  

After the filer delegates authority to file to an EDGAR account, the EDGAR account becomes a delegated entity of the filer and can make filings on the filer’s account on EDGAR. 

Delegation can be terminated by the filer at any time. 

Delegate Authority to File 

Any one of the filer’s account administrators can delegate authority to file using a function on the dashboard of the EDGAR Filer Management website, as follows: 

  1. If you are an account administrator for a filer seeking to delegate authority to file, log into the dashboard on the EDGAR Filer Management website using your Login.gov individual account credentials. 
  2. Select My Accounts on the dashboard. 
  3. A list of filers associated with your account will appear. 
    • If the My Accounts accordion is greyed out and inaccessible then you have not been authorized for any filer account. You must be authorized for at least one filer account to view the My Accounts accordion. 
    • Always ensure that you have selected the number of Items per page (at bottom-right of the table) that will enable you to see the full scope of options available. 
  4. Select the filer for which you would like to delegate authority to file (for which you are an account administrator). 
  5. Select Manage Delegations and User Groups. 
  6. Select Add Delegation. 
  7. Enter the CIK or name of the EDGAR account to which you would like to delegate authority to file. This EDGAR account should correspond to the filing agent, law firm, broker-dealer or other entity with which you have a separate agreement regarding EDGAR filing. The EDGAR account will become your delegated entity. 
    • If you enter information that corresponds to an EDGAR account that has enrolled in EDGAR Next, the name, CIK, address, and state of incorporation (if relevant) of the account will display. 
    • There may be multiple similarly named EDGAR accounts. Confirm that the information displayed corresponds to the EDGAR account with which you have an agreement regarding EDGAR filing and to which you would like to delegate authority to file. 
  8. Select Delegate and then Yes, Delegate. 
  9. A pop-up message will appear indicating whether the delegation invitation was  successfully sent to the account administrator(s) of the selected EDGAR account. 
  10. Each account administrator at the invited EDGAR account will receive a delegation invitation. If one account administrator at the invited EDGAR account accepts the invitation, the invited EDGAR account will become a delegated entity for the filer and will be able to make filings on the filer’s EDGAR account.   
  11. You may cancel the delegation at any time by selecting Cancel delegation. The delegated entity need not accept the cancellation for it to be effective. 

Request Delegation of Authority to File 

An EDGAR account may request that a filer delegate authority to it so that the EDGAR account can make filings  on the filer’s EDGAR account. If the filer accepts the request, the requesting EDGAR account would become the filer’s delegated entity. For example:

  • A filing agent with an agreement with a client filer can request that its client filer delegate authority to the filing agent to make filings on the client’s EDGAR account.
  • A broker-dealer can request that a client filer that has Form 144 filing obligations delegate authority to the broker-dealer to make those filings on the client filer’s EDGAR account. 

Any one of the account administrators for the requesting EDGAR account can request that a filer delegate authority to the requesting account to allow it to make filings on the filer’s EDGAR account, as follows: 

  1. If you are an account administrator for an EDGAR account that seeks to file on behalf of a filer, log into the dashboard on the EDGAR Filer Management website using your Login.gov individual account credentials. 
  2. Select My Accounts on the dashboard. 
  3. A list of filers associated with your account will appear. 
    • If the My Accounts accordion is greyed out and inaccessible then you have not been authorized for any filer account. You must be authorized for at least one filer account to view the My Accounts accordion. 
    • Always ensure that you have selected the number of Items per page (at bottom-right of the table) that will enable you to see the full scope of options available. 
  4. Select the EDGAR account that will request authority to file (for which you are an account administrator). 
    • This is the account that seeks to make filings on the filer’s EDGAR account, because, for example, it is the account belonging to the filer’s filing agent, law firm, or broker-dealer.  
  5. Select Manage Delegations and User Groups. 
  6. Select Request Delegation. 
  7. Enter the CIK or name of the filer for which your EDGAR account would like to file. 
    • This is the filer that you request delegate authority to file to your EDGAR account. 
    • If you enter information that corresponds to a filer in EDGAR that has enrolled in EDGAR Next, the filer’s name, CIK, address, and state of incorporation (if relevant) will display. 
    • There may be multiple similarly named filers. Confirm that the information displayed corresponds to the filer from which you would like to request delegated filing authority. 
  8. Select Request Delegation and then Yes, Request Delegation.   
  9. A pop-up message will appear indicating whether the delegation request has been successfully sent to the account administrator(s) of the filer. 
  10. Each account administrator at the filer will receive a delegation request. If one account administrator for the filer accepts the request, the EDGAR account for which you requested delegation will become a delegated entity for the filer able to make filings on the filer’s EDGAR account. 
  11. You may cancel the delegation at any time by selecting Cancel delegation. The delegating filer need not accept the cancellation for it to be effective. 

Delegation Preferences 

A filer’s account administrator may establish delegation preferences—default settings on the filer’s account to automatically (a) allow delegation requests be sent to the filer’s account, and (b) accept delegation requests sent to the delegated entity’s account—as follows:

  1. If you are an account administrator for a filer, log into the dashboard on the EDGAR Filer Management website using your Login.gov individual account credentials. 
  2. Select My Accounts on the dashboard. 
  3. A list of filers associated with your account will appear. 
    • If the My Accounts accordion is greyed out and inaccessible then you have not been authorized for any filer account. You must be authorized for at least one filer account to view the My Accounts accordion. 
    • Always ensure that you have selected the number of Items per page (at bottom-right of the table) that will enable you to see the full scope of options available. 
  4. Select the filer for which you would like to establish delegation preferences. 
  5. Select Manage Delegations and User Groups. 
  6. Select Delegation Preferences. 
  7. Two delegation preferences will appear, each with a corresponding checkbox:  
    1. Allow delegation requests—Selecting this option will allow other EDGAR accounts to send you requests to delegate authority to file to those accounts. 
      • If you do not select this option, EDGAR will automatically block these requests. 
      • This option streamlines the process for filers to delegate authority to file to their filing agents, law firms, broker-dealers, or other EDGAR accounts with which they have an agreement regarding EDGAR filing. 
      • You should not select this option if you are concerned that you may receive unauthorized delegation requests. 
    2. Auto accept delegations—Selecting this option will allow you to automatically accept all invitations from other EDGAR accounts to file on their behalf. 
      • If you do not select this option, you would instead manually accept or decline delegation invitations as you receive them. You may also ignore delegation invitations and allow them to expire. 
      • This option streamlines the process for filing agents, law firms, broker-dealers, or other EDGAR accounts that file on EDGAR on behalf of their clients to establish delegated entity relationships with clients with which they have an agreement regarding EDGAR filing. 
  8. Select the delegation preferences that you would like to establish. 
  9. Select Save Preferences.  
  10. A pop-up message will appear indicating whether the delegation preferences have been successfully saved. 

Last Reviewed or Updated: April 29, 2025