Many countries (e.g., Norway, UK, Australia) have initiatives in place to eliminate cheques in the short to medium term, while some have already  

eliminated cheques (e.g., Netherlands, Sweden).

As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor I could not help notice the prompt to use TelPay when preparing cheques, whether it be payroll or suppliers. There are other options out there such as Versapay and the list is growing, but Telpay fit the processes I most recommend to my clients. This primarily relates to the ability for a bookkeeper to prepare a 'payment run' and the signing party to approve the payment. More than one approval authority can be set up.

As with anything new it was a little confusing at first but the Telpay people are very helpful at all times. The system works best if you are able to interface Telpay directly with your accounting software such as QuickBooks. You can do a 'cheque run' for payroll or suppliers as usual and then activate the Telpay software that will import the selected payable file directly from your software.

Needless to say, that in order for Telpay to direct deposit, they need to know the payee bank account information. If you are unable to provide this yourself in a timely manner Telpay will send the recipient a cheque along with a request for banking information. 

I have been using Telpay for my clients for three years now and I simply can't imagine doing it any other way as the economies are substantial. With Canada Post increasing postal rates to 85 cents, plus the cost of the envelope plus the actual cheque form itself there is an immediate cost savings. Telpay charges a flat fee of $15/month plus 50 cents for a supplier payment and 15 cents for a payroll payment. 

The biggest benefit, however lies in the convenience of affording the 'boss' the ability to approve payments with a cell phone no matter where they are, even on vacation. No more going into the office and spending time signing payroll cheques. The system is absolutely secure and totally paperless (although you can still print out summaries if you like).

The other substantial labour saving comes with doing the bank reconciliation as there are no outstanding cheques to reconcile. Bank recs are a snap! Payroll withholdings (with a convenient CRA input form) and HST payments can be made directly through Telpay.  There is no need for a 'paper' trail providing even more economies as part of 'going paperless' discussed in my previous articles.

You will have to experience some frustration in the beginning, but the benefits are too large to ignore.

Better yet outsource your accounting to The Remote Controller and you don't even need accounting software.

  

Find out the numerous advantages of being ahead of the curve.