Perforation of checks by banks;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 77
The Perforation of Checks By Banks
BY R. S. JOHNS, NEWARK OFFICE
Styles in the perforation of checks by
banks, perhaps at first thought a rather
trivial matter, may at times become a
factor of considerable importance. In
connection with the audit of cash, it is
sometimes necessary to examine the bank's
perforation of a check as evidence of the
date on which the amount of the check
had been charged to the bank account in
question.
The customary method of indicating
that a check has been paid by the bank
on which drawn is to perforate the check
in somewhat the following fashion:
• • • •• •
• • • ••
• • • • • ••
• • •• • •
There is a tendency, however, to per­forate
checks by code so that one cannot
determine at a glance just what date the
check cleared through the bank. This is
more true of the larger banks than the
smaller ones where the volume of checks
to be cancelled is not so great. The basis
of the code is to have the holes representing
the numerical equivalent of the month,
day, or year, perforated on the following
scheme:
12 3 • • •
4 5 6 • • •
7 8 9 • • •
Three such blocks are employed to in­dicate,
respectively, the month, day, and
year. These blocks are separated by a
series of holes to avoid confusion between
blocks. For example, August 16, 1928,
would be represented in the following
manner (those not punched are shown
solid for purposes of illustration):
• • • o o • • o • o •
• • • o • • o o • • •
• o • o • • • o • o •
It is evident that some additional pro­vision
must be made for such numbers as
11, 22, etc., for numbers containing a
cipher, such as 10, 20, etc., and also to
distinguish between 12 and 21, 13 and 31,
etc. Two additional holes for each block
are provided for these purposes, as illus­trated
by the letters " A " and " B ":
A B ••• ••• •••
" A " is used to indicate that a cipher
should follow the numeral punched in the
regular block. " B " means that the numeral
indicated should be taken twice. October
11, 1928, would be represented in the
following manner:
O • • O • •
• • • o • • • o • • •
• • • o • • • o • o •
Twelve and thirteen are distinguished
from twenty-one and thirty-one, respec­tively,
by punching "A" when the
numerals should be taken in reverse order.
It should be noted, perhaps, that the use