damentally adheres to a refined double-entry system. Perhaps it does not adhere
to post-industrial, or even modern standards, but the bookkeeping seems typical
and remarkably well executed for its time. The detailed documentation in the
MCC bookkeeping and its preservation suggests that there may be possibilities
for transcription into modern statistical programs for analyses. With adjustments
and transformation of the quantitative information, to fit modern accounting
standards, it may be possible to create data for analyses.
The MCC Bookkeeping and Its Profits
Reinders Folmer-van Prooijen's assessment of the profitability of the MCC is
conservative, but probably realistic if we take the profits and losses in the book
keeping at face value (in other words: to interpret it as modern economic data).71
Alternative approaches instead of net profit, could focus on operating profit, such
as Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), a
modern hybrid method to estimate a company's 'operating profit and operating
cash flow'. It is not (yet) clear how taxes, depreciation, and amortization should
be interpreted in the MCC bookkeeping, but an EBIT, Earnings Before Interest,
186
Accounting in the Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade
Cargazoen
(cargo/merchandise)
Equipage
(expenses)
Grootboek G
'La G', 1749-1754
(ledger accounts)
Journaal
'La G', 1749-1754
(journal)
Grootboek
'La F', 1743-1748
(ledger accounts)
Journaal
'La F', 1743-1748
(journal)
Memoriaal
(waste book, special
entries)
't Huiskomende
ongelden, half-winst
goederen en retouren
(costs, sales and
revenue upon return)
Figure 5. Chronological structure of the bookkeeping.
71 Reinders Folmer-Van Prooijen, Van goederenhandel naar slavenhandel, 155-159.
