the journal, such as the scheepsboeken, serve different accounting purposes and
will be discussed according to their relevance to the case study of the year 1752.
The MCC opperboekhouder, Pieter de Bruijn who was appointed in March of
1751, was responsible for maintaining the journal, as well as the ledger and the
annual balance. The general structure of the bookkeeping can be found in the
instructions for the bookkeepers and is represented in Figure 1.35 Below the level
of the journal, the records of the bookkeeping become harder to identify, as they
are less clearly organized and more fragmented.
The MCC employs Vlaamse pond (Flemish pound) as its standard currency
in the ledgers. An important detail is that the Vlaamse pond is not divided into
modern decimal units of cents, but into schelling, and groot (1 Vlaamse pond
20 schellingen 240 groten). The balance sheet includes three columns from left
to right (in order of most valuable to least valuable), Vlaamse pond, schelling,
groot. One Flemish pound would generally be converted into six Dutch guilders.36
This notation convention and use of currency is prevalent throughout the MCC
administration.
176
Accounting in the Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade
Balance
(Balance)
Scheepsboeken
(ship books)
Memoriaal
(waste book)
Grootboek
(ledger)
Cas en Bankboek
(cash and bank book)
Journaal
(journal)
Verkoopboek van
Retouren
(sales book)
Andere boeken en
stukken
(miscellaneous books
and notes)
Figure 1: General structure of the MCC Bookkeeping System
35 ZA, MCC, 1720-1889, inv. nr. 51. Register van instructiën en eedsformulieren, 18e eeuw. 1 deel
(NL-MdbZA_20_51_0003-0007); Reinders Folmer-Van Prooijen, Van goederenhandel naar
slavenhandel, 61.
36 Reinders Folmer-Van Prooijen, Van goederenhandel naar slavenhandel, 175.
