Finally, the late mercantilist idea of 'balance of trade' could provide a possible
economic rationale for the seemingly low profits of the MCC.78 The theory that
expensive manufactured goods are exported and raw resources are imported to
Middelburg seems plausible considering the export of gunpowder and textiles,
while the goods imported to Middelburg are primarily raw materials or bullion
(for example ivory and gold from the West African coast) and slave-based com
modities from the Americas.79
Concluding Remarks
Although the MCC used a refined double-entry bookkeeping system, it is not
meaningful to use the bookkeeping to assess profits and losses in a modern con
ventional sense. The main purpose of the MCC bookkeeping was not to make
highly accurate annual profit and loss accounts, or balance sheets to enable 'ra
tional decision-making'. The bookkeeping primarily functioned as a tool to ac
count for the company's transactions, so to be accountable to its stakeholders.
Chiapello shows that 'capitalism' as a concept only emerged in the 19th century,
based on the interpretation of contemporary accounting notions after the Indus
trial Revolution, allowing for economic and sociological interpretations of capital
accumulation.80 It is conceivable that with the MCC records from 1752, we are
studying some of the last preindustrial accounting records, which do not con
form to our modern standards. Future research could focus on the transcription
and potential transformation of MCC bookkeeping records into quantitative data
conforming to modern accounting standards. With more than a century of con
tinuous MCC records well into the industrial era, numerous analyses could be
possible. It may also be useful to assess changing accounting methods over time
to understand how new economic practices may be reflected in the bookkeeping.
The calculations of net profit (or EBIT(DA)) may remain fruitless or uninform-
ative, but the MCC bookkeeping provides valuable qualitative and chronological
information (primarily in the journal) on the different components of the compa
ny (for example ship voyages, the wharf, the ropery). In addition, intricate details
188
Accounting in the Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade
78 Vaggi and Groenewegen, A Concise History of Economic Thought, 16-19.
79 Reinders Folmer-Van Prooijen, Van goederenhandel naar slavenhandel, 152.
80 Chiapello, Accounting, 263.
