Print & Cheques Now Publishes Plain-Language Guide to Cheque Standard 006

Print & Cheques Now Inc., a Calgary-based family-owned cheque printer, has published a plain-language guide to Payments Canada's Standard 006, the technical specification for cheques drawn on Canadian bank accounts. The guide is aimed at accountants, controllers, business owners, and administrative staff who order or approve business cheques. It explains how MICR encoding, cheque layout, magnetic signal strength, and security elements can affect automated processing at financial institutions. The guide emphasizes that a cheque may have correct account and transit numbers but still fail testing if its MICR line is incorrectly printed or positioned. Standard 006 reserves a 5/8-inch band at the bottom of the cheque for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) encoding, with specific clear zones. The E-13B font, consisting of digits and four symbols, must be printed with magnetic ink and produce a signal within tolerances. Testing evaluates character dimensions, spacing, placement, and extraneous magnetic ink. Payments Canada recommends pre-production testing for organizations printing their own cheques.

Print & Cheques Now holds the designation CPA Self-Accredited Printer #1010 through the Cheque Printer Self-Accreditation Program. Their cheques include three confirmed security features: holograms, thermochromic ink, and microprinting. These features are separate from MICR requirements but must be placed to avoid interference. The company tests its production under the self-accreditation program and offers a Bank Acceptance Guarantee: if a Canadian financial institution rejects a cheque, they will reprint or refund the order. Businesses can review business cheque options or order cheques matched to their financial institution. Jon Gilchrist, Owner, notes that most business owners never look at the standard until a cheque is rejected, and the guide aims to make the technical requirements accessible.

Print & Cheques Now Inc., founded in 2006, has served over 46,000 customers across Canada. They print personal cheques, manual business cheques, and laser/computer cheques compatible with QuickBooks, Sage 50, Xero, and Simply Accounting. Their cheques are accepted by major banks and over 200 credit unions.