- cheque
- A preprinted form on which instructions are given to an account provider (a bank or building society) to pay a stated sum to a named recipient. It is a common form of payment of debts of all kinds ( current account).In a crossed cheque two parallel lines across the face of the cheque indicate that it must be paid into a bank account and not cashed over the counter (a general crossing). A special crossing may be used in order to further restrict the negotiability of the cheque, for example by adding the name of the payee's bank. Under the Cheques Act (1992) legal force is given to the words account payee only on cheques, making them non-transferable and thus preventing fraudulent conversion of cheques intercepted by a third party. An open cheque is an uncrossed cheque that can be cashed at the bank of origin. An order cheque is one made payable to a named recipient ‘or order’, enabling the payee to either deposit it in an account or endorse it to a third party, i.e. transfer the rights to the cheque by signing it on the reverse. In a blank cheque the amount is not stated; it is often used if the exact debt is not known and the payee is left to complete it. However, the drawer may impose a maximum by writing ‘under £…’ on the cheque. A rubber cheque is one that is ‘bounced’ back to the drawer because of insufficient funds in the writer's account. In the USA the word is spelled check.
Accounting dictionary. 2014.
