We are expanding to Canada - just opened a brand new office in Ontario. We have a setup to print our own checks using magnetic ink. What is a good source to read more about Canadian check standards? Are they much different from US? Please advise. Denis Petrov
Denis, I am in Toronto, Ontario, Canada … we have our cheques made by North American compnay called safeguard. They are well-known. Try their site for more information: http://www.gosafeguard.com -john
John, do you use preprinted checks from SafeGuard or do you print the whole thing on your printer? thanks Denis Petrov
Hi Denis, As far as I know they aren’t any different. The MICR line should try and line up in the same position as it does in the US but the bank clearing houses are moving to optical readers anyway. We typically don’t have the fractional codes that I’ve seen related to US bank accounts. And if you are writing US checks you sometimes need to have special text on the cheque. I think you’ll be fine. We have many clients who print US and Canadian cheques on blank cheque stock. Django
We have the MICR preprinted, etc. so that we can print useing the standard payroll report in Navision. -john
Our NSC just informed us that MICR code is not available add-on for Navision 3.7. I will appreciate any hints/links/suggestions Thank you
http://www.asapchecks.com/micr/r-cpadoc.htm Standards Council of Canada 45 O’Connor Street, Suite 1200 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6N7 (613) 238-3222, or (800) 267-8220
quote:
Our NSC just informed us that MICR code is not available add-on for Navision 3.7. I will appreciate any hints/links/suggestions Thank you
Originally posted by Denis Petrov - 2004 Oct 07 : 23:14:30
Open Door Technologies has a cheque form that will print the MICR on the cheque for you. www.opendoor.ab.ca
Thanks Django small correction: the web site address is http://www.opendoor.ca it also appeas that they have MICR for AP checks only. What about Payroll checks? Any other links? [?] Thanks Denis Petrov
Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t understand the concerns regarding MICR print. In order to print MICR on our checks - this should work for both A/P or Payroll - we do the following: 1. We purchased blank checks. We got ours from www.ganson.com. Theirs are nice because they have a marked area on the check that tells you if your print starts in the proper location. Nice for the clerical person printing on a regular basis - tells them if the checks are aligned properly in the printer. I’m not sure if they’re up to Canadian standards, you’ll have to ask them. 2. We purchase a MICR toner cartridge also from ganson.com. 3. We purchased a MICR font. Just about any will do but I recommend getting one that comes with a calibration tool. 4. Modify the check report to add the missing print data such as your company logo and bank routing information (using the MICR font). We’ve been doing this for 2.5 years and have had no issues with our checks - they have all cleared just fine. Good Luck.
Crazy Bean (et al), No - you aren’t missing anything. The MICR encoding can be printed on anything. The little box you describe is used more for the US and less and less in Canada. We’re heading towards more optical reading rather than magnetic - which also implies that magnetic toner won’t be required in the future. A further note to our readers - make sure that your printer will handle magnetic toner properly. Some printers don’t heat up enough to melt the magnetic toner fully. Cheers, Django