Print & Cheques Now Inc., a Calgary-based cheque printer holding CPA Self-Accredited Printer #1010 status, has released a plain-language guide to Standard 006, the Payments Canada specification governing cheques drawn on Canadian bank accounts. The guide aims to demystify technical requirements for accountants, controllers, business owners, and administrative staff who order or print business cheques, focusing on how MICR encoding, layout, magnetic signal strength, and security elements affect automated processing at financial institutions.
The guide emphasizes that a cheque may have 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 the cheque for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) encoding, with the lower 3/16 inch remaining clear, the next 1/4 inch housing the E-13B characters, and the top 3/16 inch also unobstructed. Logos, signatures, or borders intruding into this area can interfere with processing. E-13B includes digits 0-9 and four symbols: Transit Number, On-Us, Amount, and Dash, which separate payment information.
MICR printing must use magnetic ink and produce a signal within tolerances set by Standard 006, with testing also covering character dimensions, spacing, placement, and absence of extraneous magnetic ink. A cheque that looks fine to the human eye may still produce an inadequate magnetic signal. Payments Canada recommends that organizations printing their own cheques submit pre-production samples to a financial institution for testing. Print & Cheques Now’s designation as CPA Self-Accredited Printer #1010, through the Cheque Printer Self-Accreditation Program, attests that its cheques meet Standard 006 tolerances and testing requirements.
Beyond MICR compliance, Print & Cheques Now cheques include three confirmed security features: holograms, thermochromic (heat-sensitive) ink, and microprinting visible under magnification. These security elements are regulated by Standard 006 to ensure they do not interfere with imaging, the MICR band, or required fields. Managing in-house cheque printing requires control over MICR font, magnetic signal, character placement, and clear-band dimensions; changes to printers, toner, paper, or other components can affect compliance.
Print & Cheques Now tests its production under the self-accreditation program and backs every order with a Bank Acceptance Guarantee: if a Canadian financial institution rejects a cheque, the company will reprint or refund. Businesses can review business cheque options or order cheques matched to their financial institution.
Jon Gilchrist, Owner of Print & Cheques Now, said, “Most business owners never look at the standard behind a cheque until one gets rejected. The person ordering cheques for a company is usually an accountant or an office manager, not a compliance specialist, so we wrote this guide in plain language instead of leaving that standard buried in a technical document only a printer would read.”
