Managing Cheques for your Small Business

We often get asked questions relating to cheques and how best to handle them when using specific accounting software. To help you with cheque related tasks we’ve put together this blog post designed to answer two of our most frequently asked questions.

1. What types of cheques do I need to buy for QuickBooks Desktop/Sage 50 printing and where can I buy them?

QuickBooks Desktop:

Intuit updated their support page detailing exactly which types of cheques QuickBooks Desktop supports. This list includes standard cheques, voucher cheques and wallet cheques.

• Standard Cheques: These are business size with no voucher area and are available three cheques to a page or on continuous paper.
• Voucher Cheques: These have a detachable stub to be used for payroll or AP information. Voucher cheques are also standard business size and are available one cheque on the top of the page and two vouchers below. They are also available on continuous paper with one cheque on top and two vouchers on bottom.
• Wallet Cheques: These are the size of a personal bank cheque and are available with three cheques on one page and a stub on the left side of the cheque or on continuous paper.

Sage 50:

Sage 50 operates alongside D+H which is the official cheques and forms partner for Sage. Sage places a lot of emphasis on cheque security which is the reason why all Sage computer cheques incorporate ASM (Advanced Security Measures) which is a comprehensive combination of cheque security features. Sage 50 supports multi-use cheques, payroll cheques and custom cheques.

• Supreme Security Multi-Use Cheques: This security conscious cheque type can be used for payroll and accounts payable.
• Supreme Security Payroll Cheques: This cheque comes in long-stub format allowing space for account information. This is a payroll specific cheque.
• Custom Cheques and Forms: Sage 50 also supports custom cheques and forms allowing you to use a custom background or your own design.

2. How do I print cheques in QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online?

To print a cheque using QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online simply follow the below steps.

QuickBooks Desktop:

1. In QuickBooks Desktop go to ‘Vendor’ then ‘Enter Bills’. Here you will need to input the details of the invoice that needs to be paid.
2. Select ‘Vendor’ then ‘Pay Bills’. Here you will need to put a check mark next to the invoice that needs to be paid and click to ‘Pay Selected Bill’ at the bottom of the window.
3. Select ‘File’ then ‘Print Forms’ and finally ‘Cheques’ and put a check mark next to the cheque that needs to be printed and click ‘OK’.
4. Finally, place the cheque in your printer.

QuickBooks Online:

In QuickBooks Online you’ll need to create a cheque.

1. You can do this by selecting the ‘Create’ + menu and under suppliers you should choose ‘Cheque’. Here you should enter your payee’s name in the ‘Choose’ a payee field.
2. Choose either a chequing or savings account or add a new account.
3. Enter the cheque’s payment date.
4. Select ‘Account’ and pick the appropriate category for the item. At this point in the description area you can name and describe the item or service.
5. In the ‘Amount’ field fill in the amount for this cheque. You will also need to select/type the sales tax in the ‘Sales Tax’ field. If you are printing this cheque you should leave the cheque number blank.
6. Finally, to print this cheque click ‘Print’ and then ‘Print Cheque’.

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Contact us or learn more about our affordable bookkeeping services and see how we can help you with your books regardless of your location with clients across North America.