You come back from the supermarket with one receipt for EUR 412.60 in a single bag: guest fruit, crew pasta, and three bottles of galley degreaser. If you code the whole lot to guest provisions, the charter guest is unknowingly paying for the crew's spaghetti and the engine room's cleaning products. That is not a rounding error. That is a misallocation, and on a charter it is a fee dispute waiting to happen.
The Chart of Accounts
A chart of accounts is the yacht's agreed list of cost codes. The exact numbering is set by the management company, but the shape is familiar:
| Code | Account | Typical owner |
|---|---|---|
| 5100 | Provisions — crew | Chef / Chief Stew |
| 5110 | Provisions — guest | Chef / Chief Stew |
| 5120 | Cellar and beverage | Chief Stew |
| 5200 | Interior consumables and cleaning | Chief Stew |
| 5210 | Guest supplies and amenities | Chief Stew |
| 5220 | Flowers and decor | Chief Stew |
| 5230 | Laundry and dry cleaning | Chief Stew |
| 5240 | Uniform | Chief Stew / Captain |
| 6100 | Deck consumables | Bosun / Chief Officer |
| 6200 | Engineering spares | Chief Engineer |
| 6300 | Fuel and lubricants | Chief Engineer |
| 6400 | Dockage, port and agency fees | Captain |
| 7100 | Crew wages and travel | Captain / Management |
| 8100 | Charter guest costs (APA) | Purser / Chief Stew |
Splitting a Receipt — Worked Example
The EUR 412.60 supermarket receipt is split at the till line level:
| Line group | Amount (EUR) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Guest fruit, cheese, water | 268.40 | 5110 |
| Crew dry goods | 118.20 | 5100 |
| Galley degreaser | 26.00 | 5200 |
| Total | 412.60 | — |
268.40 + 118.20 + 26.00 = 412.60. The split total must equal the receipt total exactly, every time. If it does not, you have mis-keyed something.
The Audit Trail
The trail is the unbroken chain from the moment of spend to the owner's report:
- Receipt — the original document, photographed the same day.
- Coded entry — date, vendor, amount, currency, code, who spent it, what for.
- Ledger — the entry sits in the running record with a reference number.
- Reconciliation — the entry is matched to the card statement or cash count.
- Monthly report — the coded total reaches the captain and management.
Anyone should be able to start at the owner's report, pick a number, and walk backwards to a physical receipt in under two minutes.
The Golden Rule Restated
No receipt, no code, no entry — no defence. A spend you cannot evidence looks identical, in an audit, to a spend that never happened, and to money that was taken.
Onboard Notes
- Write the code on the receipt in pen at the moment of purchase. You will not remember by Friday.
- Ask the till for an itemised receipt, not the card slip. A card slip proves payment, not purchase.
- Never code to "miscellaneous" to make the day end. A large miscellaneous line is the first thing an auditor opens.