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

Print & Cheques Now Inc., a Calgary-based cheque printer, has published a plain-language guide to Standard 006, the Payments Canada specification that governs cheques drawn on Canadian accounts. The guide is designed for accountants, controllers, business owners, and administrative staff who order or approve business cheques, explaining how MICR encoding, cheque layout, magnetic signal strength, and security elements affect automated processing at financial institutions.

The guide emphasizes that a cheque may contain the correct account and transit numbers yet still fail testing if its MICR line is incorrectly printed or positioned. Standard 006 reserves a 5/8-inch band along the bottom of a cheque for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) encoding. No printing may appear within this band other than the prescribed E-13B characters in the encoding line. The lower 3/16 inch of the band must remain clear, the encoding line occupies the next 1/4 inch, and the 3/16 inch above it must also remain unobstructed. Logos, signatures, borders, or other printed elements that enter this area may interfere with MICR processing or cause the cheque to fail testing.

E-13B consists of the digits zero through nine and four symbols: the Transit Number, On-Us, Amount, and Dash symbols. These characters identify and separate the information used to process the payment. The MICR line must be printed with magnetic ink and produce a signal within the tolerances established by Standard 006. Testing also evaluates character dimensions, spacing, placement, and the presence of extraneous magnetic ink. A cheque that appears correct to the human eye may still produce an inadequate or inconsistent magnetic signal. Payments Canada recommends that organizations printing their own cheques submit pre-production samples to a financial institution for testing.

Print & Cheques Now holds the designation CPA Self-Accredited Printer #1010 through the Cheque Printer Self-Accreditation Program administered by Payments Canada. Self-accredited printers attest that they produce cheques within the tolerances set by Standard 006 and follow the program's testing requirements. In addition to meeting Standard 006 specifications, Print & Cheques Now cheques include three confirmed security features: holograms, thermochromic (heat-sensitive) ink, and microprinting visible under magnification. These features are separate from the MICR encoding requirements but their placement is regulated to avoid interference with imaging, the MICR band, or required cheque fields.

Managing cheque printing in-house requires control over the MICR font, magnetic signal, character placement, and clear-band dimensions. Changes to the printer, toner, paper, or other components of the printing process may affect whether the finished cheque meets Standard 006. Print & Cheques Now tests its cheque production under the requirements of the self-accreditation program. Every order is also covered by the company's Bank Acceptance Guarantee. If a Canadian financial institution rejects the cheque, Print & Cheques Now will reprint or refund the order.

Businesses can review business cheque options or order cheques matched to their financial institution. Jon Gilchrist, Owner of Print & Cheques Now, noted that most business owners never look at the standard behind a cheque until one gets rejected. The person ordering cheques is usually an accountant or office manager, not a compliance specialist, so the guide was written in plain language instead of leaving the standard buried in a technical document only a printer would read.