Unusable Checks/Voided Checks

This topic discusses checks that will never be cashed or clear the bank: unusuable checks and voided checks.

Unusable Checks

A check is considered unusable if Costpoint has never recognized it as a check and the unused check will never be used in the future. Unusable checks can exist if you use checks with the check numbers preprinted. If you use blank laser checks, you will not experience problems with unusable checks.

Unusable checks are typically the result of damage or user error that occurs to the check before the check is recorded in Costpoint. After you print checks, Costpoint displays a dialog box to tell you that checks were printed but not yet recorded.

  • Click OK to record the checks into Check History and unposted Cash Disbursements. The checks and their corresponding numbers are added to Costpoint data tables as valid checks.
  • Click Cancel to halt the process. Costpoint does not know that these checks (and their corresponding check numbers, vendors, and currency amounts) were printed.

It could be that you used the incorrect starting check number, which did not match the pre-printed number on the check, and you then canceled the run. Alternatively, it could be that you made payments that you had not intended to make, and you canceled the run. If only a few of the checks are unusable, you may want to accept the entire check run, then void those checks that cannot be used.

There are other ways that checks become unusable such as when a check is used as a test check for printer alignment, when a check has been written on, or when a check is rendered unusable for any other reason. When a check becomes unusable, enter the pre-printed check number via the Manage Unusable Checks screen.

Voided Checks

The second type of check that will never clear the bank is a voided check. To be voided, a check must first be an existing check, a check that was printed and accepted.

You may need to void a check because it was:

  • Lost or destroyed in the mail
  • Issued for an incorrect amount
  • Issued to the incorrect vendor