You cross from Croatia to Italy on Tuesday, then fly a guest party home from Nice on Friday. In one week you touch euro cash, a US dollar card statement, a kuna-era legacy supplier who now wants euro, and a crew member who paid a taxi in Swiss francs and wants reimbursing. Your books are kept in euro. Every one of those has to land in the ledger at a defensible number.
The cash instruments
- Ship cash (petty cash) — a controlled float for small, immediate, receipted spending.
- Yacht debit or credit cards — held by the captain and named heads of department, with limits.
- Bank transfers — for suppliers, run from the management company or by the yacht with dual authorisation.
- APA cash — charter money, ring-fenced and never mixed with owner funds. Keep it in a separate account or, at minimum, a separately reconciled ledger.
The imprest system
Petty cash is best run as an imprest float: a fixed amount that is topped back up to the same figure each time it is reconciled. The float plus the receipts always equals the imprest.
| Item | EUR |
|---|---|
| Imprest float | 5,000.00 |
| Receipts held (provisions 1,240.00, taxis 380.00, hardware 1,842.50, laundry 380.00) | 3,842.50 |
| Cash counted in the safe | 1,157.50 |
| Float plus cash check: 3,842.50 + 1,157.50 | 5,000.00 |
The reimbursement claimed is therefore EUR 3,842.50, restoring the float to 5,000.00. If cash counted had been 1,100.00, there is a shortfall of 57.50 that must be reported, not absorbed.
Foreign currency
Book in the yacht functional currency (often EUR or USD) and convert everything else at a stated rate.
- A USD card purchase of USD 4,800.00 at a rate of 1.0870 USD per EUR converts to EUR 4,415.82 (4,800 divided by 1.0870).
- Use one rate source and one rate date convention, agreed with the office: the bank rate on the statement, or a month-end rate. Never mix.
- The difference between the rate you booked and the rate the bank finally charged is an FX gain or loss and is posted to its own account, not buried in provisions.
Card discipline
- One holder per card. No sharing, no shared PINs.
- Receipts submitted within an agreed window, e.g. 48 hours or before disembarkation.
- Missing receipt means a signed missing receipt declaration stating what, why and how much, countersigned by the head of department. It is an exception, not a habit.
Onboard Notes
- Two people count the safe, and both sign. A single-signature cash count protects nobody, least of all the purser.
- Never lend the ship cash to crew. Advances, if permitted at all, go through payroll with a written record.
- Cash-heavy ports invite skimming. Spot-count the float on random days, not only at month end.