In most cases this was facilitated by the law firms getting all the paid cheques back from the bank as a matter of routine and having them sorted and ready for examination. This has changed with the end of the audit scheme.
Law societies no longer require law firms to retrieve paid cheques from the bank.
For NZLS Inspectorate purposes it is more appropriate to require a bank to supply paid cheques direct to the inspector under regulation 12 of the Solicitors Trust Account Regulations 1998 as they are needed. Some banks are signalling an intention to review their charges for the service of returning paid cheques - a further incentive for firms to stop using this procedure. Images of cheques will be readily available on request. While a high quality of imaging is promised, images will not be in colour, will not show types and colours of inks used in the writing and will not show the background design. However, with advance notice, banks can set aside the paid cheques that practitioners particularly require so that they are not destroyed.