I'm writing a banking software that, using some accounts from a bank, show the records about it. They could be debt records (money leaving account) or credit records (money arriving). Is there a specific word for the unit inside this group of records that together build the account history? I'm a Brazilian and using Google Translate, I searched for "lançamento". But this ambiguous portuguese word also means launch (like a rocket launch), which I think is not the case. I also found release, but I also think that's not the case (like a software being released into the consumer market). The word "lançamento" means to input/throw/launch(?) some data into an account.
-
Are you looking for transaction?– MahdiCommented May 9, 2018 at 13:36
-
the unit inside this group of records is unclear. I don't know what you mean by "inside".– TimRCommented May 9, 2018 at 13:38
-
1financial records are made up of accounts and accounting statements. You are not writing asoftware: you are writing software, a software program or a software application. Banking records can be credit and debit accounts. Or bank statements. We say: to record data [in an account]. Record or enter or input data. And lançar is not right here in Portuguese either.– LambieCommented May 9, 2018 at 13:48
-
3To use your molecule example, the molecule is the "transaction" and the atoms within it would be edits to two account records, one showing a debit and the other a credit. A transaction is a "logical" unit consisting of two related memorialized "actual" items.– TimRCommented May 9, 2018 at 13:48
-
1There is even the term of art atomic transaction although there "atomic" is your "molecular" :)– TimRCommented May 9, 2018 at 16:18
|
Show 2 more comments
2 Answers
Google translate provides a number of additional suggestions aside from "launch", including the one I think you're looking for: "entry". A financial record (or journal) is a record of individual entries for a particular account. These entries are (usually) either debits and credits to that account. Example:
Double-entry bookkeeping, in accounting, is a system of bookkeeping so named because every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite entry to a different account.
More information on double-entry bookkeeping
Other examples:
A journal entry is a formal accounting entry used to identify a business transaction. The entry itemizes accounts that are debited and credited, and should include some description of the reason for the entry, as well as the date.
If properly documented, journal entries provide an excellent audit trail for anyone investigating the accounting records of an entity.
Adjusting Journal Entry: An accounting entry made into a subsidiary ledger called the General journal to account for a periods changes, omissions or other financial data required to be reported "in the books" but not usually posted to the journals used for typical period transactions.
-
Good for you, making heads or tails out of it. I simply had no idea what was actually meant. As for launch, it is irrelevant.– LambieCommented May 9, 2018 at 21:18
-
@Lambie it's just one of those quirks of language, where a word used for, say, launching a product (lançamento de produto) is also used for bookkeeping entry (lançamento contábil). But English is no different -- why is it when we discharge someone from employment we fire them? Seems a cruel metaphor.– AndrewCommented May 9, 2018 at 22:07
-
I speak fluent Portuguese. Did you know that? That said, what is described by the OP is not really connected to launching a product. In fact, the question is simply not clear.– LambieCommented May 10, 2018 at 12:16
-
@Lambie I did not know, but I'll remember that for the future. I've just been watching a Portuguese TV show so all I know is a few colorful phrases. :)– AndrewCommented May 10, 2018 at 16:23
As Tᴚoɯɐuo says in a comment, I think transaction is a good word to use here. It's common and readily understandable, but not overly informal.
Most monthly bank statements include a "transaction history" which shows the debits and credits to an account.