Paper check volume is expected to fall to 17.9 billion items next year, according to a report TowerGroup released last week.
Consumers continue to write the majority of checks, but business checks account for most of the value, the Needham, Mass., independent research firm owned by MasterCard Inc. said in the report.
A Federal Reserve Board study released in December found that 33.1 billion checks were written in 2006.
Consumers are shifting routine payments to various types of electronic transactions, but businesses have been slower to follow suit, according to TowerGroup's analysis of Fed data. Businesses wrote 38% of all checks in 2006, but they accounted for 78% of the dollar value of all check transactions.
The average business-to-business check was for $2,378, while the average check from businesses to consumers was for $590. The average consumer-to-consumer check was for $446, and the average consumer check payment to a business or government agency was for $307.
"Until electronic payments become more readily accepted by all businesses, checks will remain the most frequently used noncash payment," Andrew Schmidt, a TowerGroup research director and the author of its report, said in a press release.
