A bank statement or account statement is a summary of financial transactions which have occurred over a given period on a bank account held by a person or business with a financial institution. Bank statements have historically been and continue to be typically printed on one or several pieces of paper and either mailed directly to the account holder, or kept at the financial institution's local branch for pick-up. In recent years there has been a shift towards paperless, electronic statements, and some financial institutions offer direct download into account holders accounting software.