1. A method for testing a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) character printed on a document for compliance with a character standard, the method comprising the steps on obtaining a location associated with the MICR character on the document; obtaining a magnetic signal data indicative of dimensional features of the MICR character associated with the location; obtaining optical image data indicative of the dimensional features of the. MICR character associated with the location; comparing the magnetic signal data against a plurality of magnetic signal templates and failing to determine a matching character of the MICR character, such that each of the plurality of magnetic signal templates is associated with a unique character of a set of characters; comparing the optical image data against a plurality optical image templates to determine the matching character of the MICR character; and determining at least one optical defect of the dimensional features of the matching character from the optical image data indicative of the failure to determine the matching character by the comparison of the magnetic signal data; wherein the optical image data and the magnetic signal data are obtained from corresponding readers located in the same housing.