transaction

1. something that is transacted, esp a business deal or negotiation 2. (in business computing) the act of obtaining and paying for an item or service 3. (in general computing) the transmission and processing of an item of data

Transaction

an action to establish, alter, or terminate civil law rights or duties. The commonest transaction is a contract, that is, a transaction between two or more persons. However, a transaction can also be unilateral, an expression of the intent of one person, for example, a will.

For a transaction to be valid, several conditions must obtain. A transaction must be effected only on the basis of a conscious expression of will directed to bringing about specific legal consequences not otherwise prohibited by law. The actions themselves must be lawful. A transaction can be effected only by legally competent citizens; those not fully competent can effect a transaction within the limits provided by law (seeTRANSACTIONAL CAPACITY). A juridical person may effect only transactions consistent with its objects as referred to in its charter (bylaws).

In Soviet civil law, a person effecting a transaction can express his or her intent orally or in writing. Transactions performed at the same time as they are entered into—for example, store purchases without time payments—may be made orally if the law does not otherwise provide. Some transactions are usually required to be in writing: the transactions of state, cooperative, and public organizations among themselves and with citizens and transactions of citizens among themselves for a sum of more than 100 rubles. If the legal requirement of a written form is not complied with, a transaction is invalid, if the law directly provides for such—as in the Civil Code of the RSFSR, Article 195 (on pledges), Article 203 (suretyship), and Article 45 (foreign-trade transactions). In other instances, if the requirement of written form is not complied with, the parties lose the right, in the event of a dispute, to refer to the testimony of witnesses in confirmation of the transaction and can assert the existence of a transaction only through written evidence.

In instances specified by law, notarial authentication of a transaction is required, for example, for a contract of sale of a residential building, or for a gift contract for more than 500 rubles. If this requirement is not complied with, the transaction is usually invalid.

A transaction for which the law does not specify a definite form is also considered effected if a person’s behavior makes clear his or her intent to effect the transaction, for example, if an heir actually takes possession of his or her inheritance. The law sometimes holds that silence betokens the intent to effect a transaction, for example, if a payer, over a certain period of time, makes no statement refusing to accept a demand for payment.

Transactions are invalid when they are effected with an object contrary to the interests of the state and society. Also invalid are transactions of a juridical person inconsistent with its purposes as stated in its charter, transactions effected by legally incompetent persons, and transactions effected under the influence of fraud, violence, or threats.

An invalid transaction may be either void or voidable. A void transaction is invalid irrespective of whether an interested person requests it or not. A voidable transaction can be rendered invalid by a ruling of the court upon the request of an interested person or upon the request of a legally recognized third party.

If a transaction is ruled invalid, each side must usually return to the other anything received under the transaction; if this is impossible, each side must make monetary restitution for what was received (bilateral restitution). In some instances, the law provides for unilateral restitution or prohibits restitution altogether; in this instance, anything received under the transaction is forfeited to the state.

V. S. POZDNIAKOV

transaction

[tran′sak·shən] (computer science) General description of updating data relevant to any item.

transaction

A unit of interaction with a DBMS or similar system. Itmust be treated in a coherent and reliable way independent ofother transactions. See atomic.

transaction

An activity or request. Orders, purchases, changes, additions and deletions are typical business transactions stored in the computer. Transactions update one or more master files and serve as both an audit trail and history for future analyses. Ad hoc queries are a type of transaction as well, but are usually just acted upon and not saved. Transaction volume is a major factor in figuring computer system size and speed.

Keeping Transactions in Sync

A major problem in a transaction processing system is ensuring that all master files are updated before the transaction is considered completely processed. For example, if two files must be updated, but a system failure occurs after the first one, but before the second one, the software must be able to roll back the first update and start over later. In a distributed environment, this is called "two-phase commit." See transaction file.

transaction

Transaction

The delivery of a security by a seller and its acceptance by the buyer.

Trade

The voluntary exchange of goods and/or services for money or an equivalent good or service. In ancient times and frequently even now, trade was conducted through the bartering of goods. In developed economies, trades are usually made with an intermediary, especially money or credit. Trade is regulated by laws of the particular jurisdiction in which a trade is made. Common restrictions include prohibitions on selling stolen property or non-existent goods. Most states, however, have much more complex regulations for trade, depending on the complexity of goods and services traded in their jurisdiction. States also regulate trade between parties in different jurisdictions. For example, two countries may encourage trade between each other, or, more famously, discourage trade through quotas and/or tariffs.

In modern finance, trade especially refers to trade on securities exchanges. For example, the sale of a stock from one investor to another is known as a trade. This type of trade is regulated by special agencies in the appropriate jurisdiction; trade in the United States is regulated by the SEC, among other organizations. See also: Countertrade, Free trade, Protectionism.

transaction

See trade.

transaction

the exchange of an INPUT, GOOD, SERVICE or ASSET between two or more individuals or firms. Transactions can take place on an ‘arm's length’ basis, with individuals and firms buying and selling through a MARKET, or transactions may be ‘internalized’ and conducted through an internal ORGANIZATION, involving exchanges between the various departments/divisions of a VERTICALLY INTEGRATED firm (or DIVERSIFIED FIRM or MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE).

Transactions have a number of characteristics, which have an economic significance, including their ‘size’ (e.g. the transfer of a single item or large number of items), their ‘frequency’ (e.g. transfers may occur on a ‘one-off basis or may occur continuously, daily or weekly), and their ‘complexity’ (e.g. transfers may be relatively simple or highly technical and sophisticated).

The specification of transactions and the terms of exchange (e.g. prices to be paid) are usually incorporated into a legally binding CONTRACT between the parties involved when transfers take place through the market.

Transactions are conducted within the firm through established procedures and protocols governing input procurement, production, distribution and marketing. Typically, a system of internal TRANSFER PRICES is used to value interdepartmental exchanges of inputs, goods and services.

A key focus of modern theories of the firm and markets are the determinants of the relative efficiencies of conducting transactions through the market or within the firm. A number of considerations are relevant to this issue:

the relative costs of transactions through the market compared to within the firm per se (see TRANSACTION COSTS);
the importance of transaction costs vis-a-vis the firm's total supply costs (production and selling); and
strategic considerations such as controllability of inputs. For example, the transaction costs of using the market may be substantially higher than transactions within the firm arising from the need to find suitable external input suppliers and distributors and draw up and monitor contracts with them. Superficially, this would indicate that an internal organization is preferable to using the market. However, the ‘savings’ on transaction costs may be offset by higher internal administrative costs and AGENCY COSTS.

transaction

The EXCHANGE of an INPUT, GOOD, SERVICE or ASSET between two or more individuals or firms. Transactions can take place on an ‘arm‘s-length’ basis, with individuals and firms buying and selling through a MARKET, or transactions may be ‘internalized’ and conducted through an internal ORGANIZATION, involving exchanges between the various departments/divisions of a VERTICALLY INTEGRATED firm (or DIVERSIFIED FIRM or MULTINATIONAL COMPANY).

Transactions have a number of characteristics that have an economic significance, including their ‘size’ (e.g. the transfer of a single item or large number of items), their ‘frequency’ (e.g. transfers may occur on a ‘one-off basis or may occur continuously, daily or weekly), and their ‘complexity’ (e.g. transfers may be relatively simple or highly technical and sophisticated).

transaction

the relative costs of transactions through the market compared to within the firm per se (see TRANSACTION COSTS);
the importance of transaction costs vis-à-vis the firm's total supply costs (production and selling); and
strategic considerations, such as controllability of inputs. For example, the transaction costs of using the market may be substantially higher than transactions within the firm, arising from the need to find suitable external input suppliers and distributors and to draw up and monitor contracts with them. Superficially, this would indicate that an internal organization is preferable to using the market. The ‘savings’ on transaction costs, however, may be offset by higher internal administrative costs and AGENCY COSTS.

Moreover, these savings may be small relative to the firm's total operating costs, which might then be inflated by having to undertake uneconomic operations. For example, if a firm undertakes self-supply of inputs, its own needs for these inputs may be too small to generate cost savings available to outside specialist suppliers through exploiting ECONOMIES OF SCALE. Thus, any savings on transaction costs would be more than offset by higher (self) production costs (see MAKE OR BUY). This said, it may be more advantageous strategically for a firm to become its own input supplier despite higher internal production costs, so as to have full control of a vital input rather than risk being ‘held to ransom’ by powerful outside suppliers. See INTERNALIZATION, ASSET SPECIFICITY, ASYMMETRICAL INFORMATION, MORAL HAZARD, ADVERSE SELECTION, OUTSOURCING.

transaction

trans·ac·tion

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trans•ac•tion

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transact

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transaction

in (something) for (someone)

in some transaction for someone

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Keeping Transactions in Sync

transaction

trans·ac·tion

transaction

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Transaction

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Transaction

Trade

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Synonyms for transaction

noun deal

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noun conducting

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noun records

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Synonyms for transaction

noun an agreement, especially one involving a sale or exchange

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Synonyms for transaction

noun the act of transacting within or between groups (as carrying on commercial activities)

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Related Words