check printing

[space-time]

A friend of mine runs a small business where most employees are independent contractors. That is the nature of the business, these are not full time jobs. His wife writes the checks, i.e. handwrites the checks, and she complained that this takes quite some time to write 30 checks or so, make sure names, amount, memo is accurate.

They looked into a service like intuit payroll and that would probably make things easier and also allow them to print checks, but it seems the monthly fee is a little higher than what they want at this point. So for now they're going to continue to use their software to figure out the amount for the checks, but, they would like to be able to print these checks. I guess they can either copy/paste from their payroll software (I am not sure what they use) or even better, they should be able to export a list from their software (CSV, spreadsheet, etc) and import this into another software and print the 30 checks or so.

Can they use a laser printer (which they already have) or do they need a inkjet with special ink (magnetic ink)? I would imagine in this age of optical scanners and mobile banking, the magnetic ink is no longer necessary

[cbelt3]

Most business.checks can be printed on letter size paper. Just run em through your laser printer. Business level services involve check matching at the bank so check washers don't get to defraud you. Yes, people still do that.

[JoeH]

The requirement for magnetic ink was removed years ago. But even then you could get laser toner that included the magnetic particles for a number of printers.

[A-Polly]

Perhaps they could just order some computer checks online, and set up the printing themselves? Although I think setups are available for most accounting software versions. These things are even available from Amazon! I didn't know that the bank information didn't need to be preprinted, but looks like they can be ordered either way.

Decades ago, I used Quicken to print checks on my Laserwriter, and it was a great time-saver! Don't use checks much anymore. :oldfogette:

[ztirffritz]

My company buys pre-printed serialized blanks. They're fed through the standard laser printer which prints the needed info for the check.

[logankeene]

If you are still using paper checks then it is the time when you need to bring some changes to your business. Rather you should now shift to computerized checks that will save your time and will facilitate to track your payments at their due date. Through checkomatic you can easily print your business check and can bring some remarkable changes in your accounting procedures.