Your audit log is probably lying to you. Postgres 18 fixes it in one statement.

I've written this more times than I'd like, in four or five languages by now: SELECT balance FROM accounts WHERE id = 1; -- application does the arithmetic UPDATE accounts SET balance = $new WHERE id = 1; INSERT INTO audit_log (account_id, old_balance, new_balance) VALUES (1, $old, $new); Read it, do the sum, write it back. Log what happened....