An account payee cheque — written A/C Payee or Account Payee Only between the crossing lines — can only be credited to the bank account of the person named on it.
It cannot be cashed at a counter, and it cannot be endorsed to a third party. If the cheque names Sharma Enterprises, the funds reach Sharma Enterprises' account or they do not move.
Where it sits among the crossings
| Marking | Effect |
|---|---|
| Two parallel lines (general crossing) | Must be paid into some bank account |
| Bank name between the lines (special crossing) | Must be collected through that bank |
| A/C Payee | Must reach the named payee's own account |
In India this is the working default for business cheques rather than an extra precaution — most banks will not accept a crossed cheque for third-party endorsement at all, so the marking largely formalises what the bank would do anyway.
Why it is worth using
It closes the two gaps that make a cheque riskier than a bank transfer:
- No cash conversion. A stolen A/C payee cheque cannot be turned into money at a counter.
- No diversion. It cannot be signed over to a different beneficiary.
Combined, that means the payment either arrives with the intended recipient or it fails visibly. For paying suppliers, salaries or rent, that is exactly what you want.
In the Gulf
The same principle applies across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, though the marking often looks different — many Gulf cheques carry a vertical crossing band down the side rather than corner diagonals, and a good deal of stationery arrives pre-crossed. Check a blank leaf from your own book before assuming you need to add anything.
Printing it
In ChequeMaster the A/C payee marking is a per-cheque option, and the wording is a per-cheque-book default (A/C Payee Text). Each bank layout knows where its own crossing belongs — corner lines on an Indian cheque, vertical band on a UAE one — so you tick the box and the software puts it in the right place.
Set it as the book default if you always issue account payee cheques. It is one less thing to remember on a Friday afternoon.
