CPA Cheques About CPA Standard 006  Deadline for Adopting New Cheque Specifications Extended As of May 12, 2006, the deadline for adopting the new cheque specifications has been extended to June 30, 2007 in order to allow businesses more time to make the necessary changes to their cheques and modify or update their softwares involved in cheque production. This timeline will continue to ensure that cheques are “image-friendly” in preparation for the transition to image-based clearing. (from Canadian Payments Association website - http://www.cdnpay.ca/home/home.asp) The Canadian Payments Association (CPA) and its member financial institutions will be implementing a new cheque processing system using image technology. This industry wide initiative will make cheque clearing more efficient by capturing images of cheques so that they can be cleared electronically. In today's payment system about 5,000,000 paper cheques must be physically transported between financial institutions each business day. In the new system images of cheques will be captured so that information can be cleared electronically. At the heart of this project lies the cheque itself. In order to enhance processing efficiencies and be able to reproduce quality documents for business and consumers, cheques need to be image friendly. In other words, cheques need to be "photogenic" and key elements on a cheque need to be in a standardized location. The cheque redesign is a key element of the CPA's cheque imaging project. For more information on this topic, go to www.cdnpay.ca. Lighthouse Compliance Starting June 1, 2006 we will begin shipping Lighthouse version 7. Among the many enhancements will be cheque printing routines that are CPA compliant. The standard cheque form for Lighthouse is the Nebs form 9085 (www.nebs.ca) . If enhanced security on the cheque is important then Nebs form SS9085 may be used. A firm that wishes to use the services of a different printing company may order the same form as used by other accounting packages such as Simply Accounting, NewViews, MYOB, and ACCPAC for Windows. When ordering cheques, make sure that the cheque number is not printed in the upper right hand corner of the cheque. Lighthouse will print the cheque number. For firms that do not use MICR toner, the Lighthouse cheque number may not match the Serial number of the cheque printed in MICR characters at the bottom of the cheque. Accounts Payable cheques that are paying more invoices than will fit on a cheque stub will now print a Remittance Advice showing invoices paid instead of using multiple forms. Custom forms that are currently in place at law firms across Canada will not be supported - all firms must use the standard cheque form or equivalent. Note: Trademarks or service marks are used for reference purposes only and remain the property of their respective owners. MICR capability What is MICR? MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, and is used to describe the special numbers and symbols you typically see at the bottom of cheques, and the technology and processes to produce and analyze these characters. As part of Lighthouse 7, we will ship an MICR font to be used when printing cheques. This will allow users to order their cheques without the MICR characters printed at the bottom of their forms, and will mean that the cheque number printed in the upper right hand corner of the cheque will match the serial number printed in MICR characters at the bottom of the cheque. The MICR font used by Lighthouse is from IDAutomation and is supplied under a Small Company Developer License. In order to use MICR, firms will need to dedicate one laser printer solely for printing cheques. MICR toner must be used. For more information regarding MICR toner, go to http://www.lasercorp.com.   Go to main index   © Copyright 2006 DL Fullerton Programming and Consulting Incorporated