What is the term for the system where every transaction has equal debits and credits?

What is the term for the system where every transaction has equal debits and credits? The answer is double-entry bookkeeping.

Double-entry bookkeeping records each transaction in at least two accounts, with total debits equal to total credits. The paired entries capture both where value comes from and where it goes, helping keep the accounting equation—assets equal liabilities plus equity—in balance.

For example, when a business buys equipment for cash, it records an increase in equipment and a decrease in cash. A credit does not always mean money leaving a business, and a debit does not always mean money arriving; their effect depends on the type of account involved.

The system is associated with Renaissance commerce and was famously described by the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in 1494. It improves error detection through balancing checks, but it cannot prove that every entry is accurate or honest. Cash accounting and accrual accounting describe when transactions are recognized, while single-entry bookkeeping does not systematically record both sides of each economic event.