Print & Cheques Now Inc., a Calgary-based cheque printer, has published a guide to Standard 006, the Payments Canada specification governing cheques drawn on Canadian financial institutions. The guide aims to help accountants, controllers, business owners, and administrative staff understand the technical requirements for MICR encoding, layout, and security features, which can affect automated processing.
Standard 006 reserves a 5/8-inch band at the bottom of a cheque for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) encoding. No other printing is allowed within this band except the prescribed E-13B characters. The lower 3/16 inch must remain clear, the next 1/4 inch holds the encoding line, and the 3/16 inch above it must also be unobstructed. Any logos, signatures, or borders entering this area can interfere with MICR processing and cause a cheque to fail testing.
MICR printing must use magnetic ink and produce a signal within tolerances set by Standard 006. Testing evaluates character dimensions, spacing, placement, and the absence of extraneous magnetic ink. Even if a cheque appears correct to the eye, it may fail if the magnetic signal is inadequate. 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 their cheques meet Standard 006 tolerances and follow testing requirements. The company's cheques also include three confirmed security features: holograms, thermochromic ink, and microprinting visible under magnification. These features are separate from MICR requirements but must be placed to avoid interfering with imaging or the MICR band.
Managing in-house cheque printing requires control over the MICR font, magnetic signal, character placement, and clear-band dimensions. Changes to printer, toner, paper, or other components can affect compliance. Print & Cheques Now tests its production under the self-accreditation program and offers a Bank Acceptance Guarantee: if a Canadian financial institution rejects a cheque, the company will reprint or refund the order. Businesses can review business cheque options or order cheques matched to their financial institution.
"Most business owners never look at the standard behind a cheque until one gets rejected," said Jon Gilchrist, Owner of Print & Cheques Now. "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."
Print & Cheques Now Inc. is a family-owned cheque printer founded in 2006, serving over 46,000 customers across Canada. It prints personal cheques, manual business cheques, and laser and computer cheques compatible with QuickBooks, Sage 50, Xero, and Simply Accounting. Its cheques are accepted by RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, ATB Financial, Desjardins, National Bank, and more than 200 credit unions.
