The transaction directive records a balanced movement between accounts.

See the Beancount Transactions section.

Beancount syntax

2026-01-31 * "Employer" "Salary" #paycheck ^jan-2026
  order-id: "INV-42"
  Assets:Bank      5000 USD
  Income:Salary   -5000 USD

General form: YYYY-MM-DD FLAG ["Payee"] "Narration" [#tag] [^link]

Elixir struct

%Beancount.Directives.Transaction{
  date: ~D[2026-01-31],
  flag: "*",
  payee: "Employer",
  narration: "Salary",
  postings: [
    %Beancount.Directives.Posting{
      account: "Assets:Bank",
      amount: Decimal.new("5000"),
      currency: "USD",
      cost: nil,
      price: nil,
      flag: nil,
      metadata: %{}
    },
    %Beancount.Directives.Posting{
      account: "Income:Salary",
      amount: Decimal.new("-5000"),
      currency: "USD",
      cost: nil,
      price: nil,
      flag: nil,
      metadata: %{}
    }
  ],
  tags: ["paycheck"],
  links: ["jan-2026"],
  metadata: %{"order-id" => "INV-42"}
}

Or use Beancount.transaction/6:

Beancount.transaction(~D[2026-01-31], "*", "Employer", "Salary", [
  Beancount.posting("Assets:Bank", Decimal.new("5000"), "USD"),
  Beancount.posting("Income:Salary", Decimal.new("-5000"), "USD")
],
tags: ["paycheck"],
links: ["jan-2026"],
metadata: %{"order-id" => "INV-42"}
)

Fields

• date - Date.t() of the transaction.
• flag - status flag, typically "*" (complete) or "!" (needs review).
• payee - optional counterparty string. nil renders narration only.
• narration - required description string (may be empty "").
• postings - list of Beancount.Directives.Posting legs. Must balance to zero in all currencies when validated.
• tags - list of tag names (without #), applied to the transaction header.
• links - list of link names (without ^), for grouping related entries.
• metadata - optional map rendered on the transaction before postings.