The bank industry requires that all cheques contain MICR encoding to facilitate their computers to read the specific info contained on the cheque. The cheque bottom typically contains the bank account’s routing and account numbers and the cheque number.  Not only does the font have to be specific, but the ink does too.  As implied by the name, the ink must be magnetic in order for the bank’s computers to properly read the information. When ordering cheques, such as manual cheque books or preprinted letter-sized templates (that you can run through your printer), your cheque provider will print the MICR codes for you.  If you choose to print your own cheques you will need to obtain this special ink.

 

 

As mentioned, you need to print the MICR characters with magnetized ink.  The good news is that you do not need to invest in any expensive hardware.  Specifically, you do not need to purchase any specialized printers as any low-cost laser printer will do the job, as they print very accurately.  The only unique requirement is the need to purchase MICR specific toner. There are many vendors who market these inks and it is also possible to have one of your empty standard toner cartridges refilled with MICR toner.  You would probably want to use this toner exclusively for cheque printing as it is slightly more expensive than regular toner.  It would therefore make sense to have a separate printer exclusively for cheque printing.

 

 

To print a secure cheque that will be honored everywhere, the standard is to obtain blank cheque stock.  It most commonly comes in standard 8.5 x 11 letter format. This can be purchased from almost any printing house or office supply store and you can choose the format you desire. Specifically, the cheque stock is split into 3 sections: the cheque itself and two stubs.  The cheque can be on the top, middle or bottom of the paper depending on your requirements.  The cheque section will be obvious as it is the only coloured area on the paper.

 

 

At this point you are set to print cheques. With just a few required pieces of information entered in ManageUDA, the program will print the entire cheque including the company name and address, the bank name and address, the payee name, date, the cheque amount and of course, the MICR encoding. As with other cheques printed through the software, it will print the two stubs detailing the breakdown of the payment amount of cheque.  For example, if the payment covers two or more invoices, the system will print that information for your records and for the payee’s.

 

 

If you are printing cheques mostly out of one bank account, it may not make financial sense for you to invest in MICR technology. You can simply purchase preprinted cheque stock and run it through a regular printer.  When you are regularly writing cheques out of two or more bank accounts or companies, you may want to consider following the instructions in this article.  The benefits become obvious right away.  You can keep your low-cost MICR printer loaded with blank cheque stock. When you print from ManageUDA, the software will automatically choose the next cheque number and print the entire cheque from the selected company or bank account. As a further enhancement to the software, we recently added the ability to print cheques from multiple companies in one cheque-run. The software keeps track of each bank account and company individually so you do not have to monitor anything.  This can save you many hours each month and really streamline your workflow.

 

 

American cheques require slightly different guidelines for processing.  Rent Magic’s ManageUDA has these standards built in.  Speak to one of our representatives for more information about this feature or anything else mentioned in this article.