Meaning of Balance of Payments Account (BOP Account). A balance of payment account is a systematic record of all economic transactions between residents of a country and the residents of foreign countries during a given period of time. BOP Account records a country’s all transactions with the rest of the world involving inflow and outflow of foreign exchange. Thus BOP Account is basically a flow of foreign exchange account.
Simply put, BOP account is a statement of country's sources and uses of foreign exchange in which main (i) sources are: exports, transfers and remittances from abroad, borrowings from abroad, foreign investments and (ii) uses are: imports, transfers to abroad, lending abroad and purchase of assets etc.
BOP account, like a typical business account, is based on double entry system which contains two sides, namely, Credit side and Debit side. Any transaction which brings in foreign exchange (currency) is recorded on credit side whereas any transaction that causes a country to lose foreign exchange is recorded on debit side. For example export is a credit item as it brings in foreign exchange whereas import is a debit item since it causes outflow of foreign exchange. Similarly borrowing from rest of world (ROW) is a credit item while lending to ROW is a debit item