Printable Check Register (Free Fillable PDF)

This is the register that used to come stapled inside a chequebook, printed on a full page so there is room to write. Thirty rows run down the sheet with six columns: the cheque or reference number, the date, the description or payee, the payment going out, the deposit coming in and the balance after that line. The first row is printed "Balance brought forward" so the page starts where the last one ended, and the money headers sit right-aligned over their figures.

Above the table are fields for the account, the bank, the period the sheet covers and the opening balance. Below it are three more for total payments, total deposits and the ending balance, so a sheet can be closed off and filed. Nothing on the page prints a currency symbol: the same register works for dollars, euros, pounds, rand or rupees, and for a current account, a joint account or a small club treasury.

Choose the version with a cleared column and a narrow tick box sits between the deposit and the balance, for marking each entry once it shows on your statement, which makes reconciling a statement a matter of ticking down the page. Choose without and the five remaining columns get the extra width instead. Every cell is a form field, so you can keep the register on a laptop and type each entry, or print it and write by hand.