De Kok explains that the MCC would normally depreciate ships in the profit and
loss calculation when they returned to Middelburg to account for wear and tear
before being prepared for a new voyage.51 However, depreciation could or would
not happen as long as ships remained at sea, let alone if they never returned as
planned. The separate ship voyages were accounted in a separate ledger account,
until these voyages were concluded. The ledger account of the Princes van Oranje
reveals that in the MCC bookkeeping all costs related to the equipage were accu
mulated on the ledger account, and defined as assets on the balance without any
form of depreciation or revaluation over the years. When the Princes van Oranje
was decommissioned upon return, the equipage of the venture was removed as
an asset on the balance. Once a voyage was concluded, the profits or losses were
transferred to the profit and loss ledger account.52
It seems that the MCC did not (and perhaps could not) use a highly accurate
(central and annual) cost-accounting method. As Yamey explains, accounting did
not serve as a tool for 'rational decision-making' in the early modern period, as
Sombart and Weber had proposed.53 This could be countered with the argument
that the MCC could use the separate 'non-annual' ship books (scheepsboeken) for
cost-accounting. However, it is doubtful that the company used these books to
inform future decisions based on profitability. As Postma explains: 'For reasons
difficult to explain the MCC ships taking slaves to Curasao made the largest prof
its, although the company directed less than 10 percent of its ships there!54 This
is not to suggest that the MCC simply did not care about profits or that its calcu
lations were extremely inaccurate, but that decision-making was not based on a
one-dimensional indicator like accounting profits. Its accounts were instead used
to justify dividend payments and create general accountability to shareholders.
As we have seen, different facets of the MCC constitute the profits and loss
es of the company. Significant financial components of the organization include
the ropery (lijnbaan) and the wharf (werf). Other expenses were related to the
warehouses (pakhuizenthe offices (comptoirs) and other real estate assets. In
53 Chiapello, Accounting, 268-269.
Koen van der Blij
181
51 De Kok, 'Cursed Capital', 13.
52 ZA, MCC, 1720-1889, inv. nr. 1694. Grootboek, 1720-1889. 21 delen, 1694. 'La F', 1743-1748
(NL-MdbZA_20_1694_016o); ZA, MCC, 1720-1889, inv. nr. 1695. 1689-1709 Grootboek,
1720-1889. 21 delen, 1695. 'La G', 1749-1754 (NL-MdbZA_20_1695_0041); ZA, MCC, 1720
1889, inv. nr. 1712. 1711-1715 Balansen, 1722-1887. 5 pakken, 1712.1. 1747-1752 (NL-Mdb-
ZA_20_1712.1_0135-38).
54 Johannes Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815. Cambridge, 1990, 275.
