Transactions

Transactions are agreements between two or more parties to exchange resources, goods, services, or information, producing a change of ownership or state. They typically involve a transfer of value and are governed by terms, timing, and payment methods. They can occur in finance, commerce, and computing.

In finance, a transaction records a transfer of money or assets between participants, such as a purchase, payment, or loan disbursement. Key elements include parties, instrument, amount, date, and settlement; settlements may be immediate or occur on a schedule. Transactions are often documented for auditing and regulatory purposes.

In accounting, transactions are recorded using double-entry bookkeeping, with debits and credits balancing to reflect the effect on accounts. The recording supports financial statements and shareholder reporting, and it requires standards such as GAAP or IFRS.

In computing, a database transaction is a unit of work that must be completed fully or not at all. It adheres to ACID properties: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability. Transactions enable reliable data manipulation in concurrent environments.

In distributed systems and blockchain, transactions propagate through networks, are validated by nodes, and are included in blocks. Finality depends on the protocol; incentives and fees accompany processing to discourage abuse and support security.

Regulation and risk management cover anti-fraud measures, AML/KYC, taxation, and reconciliation to ensure accuracy and compliance across different transaction types.