A shipyard invoice arrives for EUR 62,400 against a quote you remember as EUR 48,000. The engineer says the extra work was verbally agreed. There is no purchase order, no variation in writing, and the yard wants payment this week. This is the exact moment a purser earns the salary.
Procurement in sequence
- Requisition — the department states what is needed and why.
- Authorisation — approved at the correct level before anything is ordered.
- Purchase order — a numbered PO stating scope, price, currency, delivery and payment terms.
- Delivery — goods checked and signed for; discrepancies noted on the delivery note at the time.
- Invoice — matched against PO and delivery note.
- Payment — released in a controlled payment run.
The three-way match (PO, delivery note, invoice) is the single most effective control on a yacht. An invoice with no PO does not get paid; it gets investigated.
Authorisation limits
Every yacht should have written limits. A typical structure, indicative only — the office sets the real figures:
| Value (EUR) | Approval required |
|---|---|
| Up to 500 | Purser or head of department |
| 500 - 5,000 | Captain |
| 5,000 - 25,000 | Management company |
| Above 25,000 | Owner office, often with competing quotes |
Contract review at a basic level
The purser is not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. But before a contract goes up the line, check the boring things that go wrong most often: the parties (is the yacht owning company correctly named?), the scope, the price and currency, payment terms, variations (how extra work is agreed and priced), liability and insurance, warranty, termination, and governing law. Anything unusual goes to the management company and its advisers.
Fraud risk and internal controls
Yachts are attractive targets: high value, fast decisions, remote from head office, cash in ports.
- Segregation of duties. The person who orders should not be the person who approves and the person who pays.
- Dual authorisation on bank payments above a low threshold.
- Supplier verification. Bank details are only changed after a call-back to a known number — never on the strength of an email. Invoice redirection fraud is the most common attack on yachts.
- Rotation and spot checks. Recount floats, re-check a sample of invoices, question round numbers.
- Kickbacks. A supplier who offers the purser or a head of department a personal benefit must be reported to the captain.
Onboard Notes
- No PO, no payment. Enforce it once, publicly and politely, and it becomes the culture.
- Verbal variations are the number one source of yard disputes. Get it in writing before the work starts, even if it is only an email confirming a conversation.
- Urgency is the fraudster favourite tool. A payment that cannot wait for a verification call is a payment worth pausing.