Writing a cheque is not difficult, but a handful of small errors account for most returned cheques. Here is the order to work in and what to watch at each stage.

1. Date

Write today's date, in the format your cheque expects — DD/MM/YYYY across India and the Gulf. If the date area is divided into small boxes, one character per box, keep each digit inside its own box.

A future date makes it a post-dated cheque, payable from that date. A date more than three months old makes it stale and unbankable.

2. Payee name

Write the payee's name exactly as their bank account is titled. This matters more than people expect: an account payee cheque must be credited to the named payee, and "ABC Trading" against an account held as "ABC Trading Company Private Limited" can be queried.

Ask how the account is titled before writing large cheques.

3. Amount in words

Write it out fully, then fill the remaining space — a line to the end, or the word "only". Empty space after the amount is where a figure can be added.

Use the convention your payee reads: lakh and crore in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka; millions in the Gulf and most other markets.

4. Amount in figures

In the box, with the decimal part. This must match the words exactly. A mismatch between the two is the most common technical reason a cheque bounces — the bank will not choose between them, it will return the cheque.

Note the decimal places: two for most currencies, but three for the Kuwaiti dinar, Bahraini dinar and Omani rial, which are divided into 1,000.

5. Crossing, if you want one

Two parallel lines across the top-left corner mean the cheque must be paid into an account rather than cashed. Add A/C Payee between them and it must reach the named payee's own account. For business payments this is worth doing as standard — see crossed cheques.

6. Signature

Sign as your bank has your specimen signature. A signature that does not match is a returned cheque, and it is a surprisingly common cause — signatures drift over years.

Sign last. An unsigned cheque cannot be used; a signed blank one can.

Do not overwrite

If you make a mistake, do not correct it. Banks routinely refuse cheques with alterations, even initialled ones. Void the leaf, mark it cancelled so the number is accounted for, and write a fresh one.

What printing removes

Most of the above is error-avoidance, and printing eliminates a good deal of it. The words are generated from the figures, so they cannot disagree. Formatting and dates are consistent. The empty space after the amount is filled automatically if you enable tamper-proof marks. There is no handwriting to be misread.

What printing does not do is sign the cheque — that stays with you.