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Abstract
We draw on archival resources and maritime and accounting history literature to explore the role of Royal Navy (RN) pursers between 1665 and 1832. Through an agency theory lens, we investigate accounting-related practices pursers used to control consumable rations, including the ‘purser’s (short) measure.’ The records pursers were required to keep suggest that the RN was at the forefront of the development of cost and materials accounting, and in the keeping of detailed accounting records. We provide fresh insights in to the purser’s role and his association with the gestation of materials waste controls, standard costing, and audit and accountability processes.
Notes
1. Leyland, “The Purser,” 321–322
2. Neale, History of the Mutiny, 7.
3. Carr Laughton, “The Naval Repository,” 148, citing an Anonymous Officer of the Navy.
4. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, victualling was facilitated through private contract. One person, Denis Gauden, was responsible for supplying all of His Majesty’s Ships. During times of war this proved an onerous a task, especially as the government were slow payers, and there were problems with food shortages on many ships. Pepys was given responsibility for devising a new victualling system in 1665. He proposed that a new post of surveyor-general be created (supported by a surveyor of victuals in each port) to ensure that victualling was carried out effectively and efficiently. The proposal was approved formally by the King. Pepys nominated himself as the new surveyor-general. In 1683, following further difficulties, a state victualling department was established - the Victualling Board. Tanner, Discourses of the Navy, 155–183.
5. Macdonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy.
6. Other subordinate boards were created in 1689: the Sick and Hurt Board (responsible for naval hospitals and the health of seamen) and the Transport Board (responsible for transporting supplies around the world). The latter body was disbanded between 1724 and 1794. Knight and Wilcox, Sustaining the Fleet.
7. Graham, “Reviews,” 981.
8. Davey, “Expertise and Naval Administration.”
9. Graham, “Reviews,” 982.
10. Ibid., 982–983.
11. Claxton, “Foreign Miscellany.”
12. We use the terms ‘purser’s measure’ and ‘purser’s pound’ synonymously.
13. Zan, “Accounting and Management Discourse,” 155.
14. Carmona and Gómez, “Early Cost Management Practices,” 239, 247.
15. Ibid., 239.
16. Carvalho, Rodrigues and Craig, “Early Cost Accounting Practices,” 74, 83.
17. ‘Significant use was made of cost accounting data for planning, decision making and control before and during the industrial revolution’ (Edwards and Newell, “The Development,” 54). There is evidence of the use of standard yields in agriculture in the thirteenth century; standard costs in the smelting industry in the seventeenth century; and labour standards based on ‘time and motion’ studies in the eighteenth century steel industry (ibid, 48). The recording of costs by managers and owners for control purposes dates from before the Industrial Revolution 1760–1820/40 (Boyns and Edwards, “The Development”). A study of the accounting records from 1667–1751 of an ironworks in the UK Midlands, for example, concluded that whilst a simple charge and discharge account was used, management of the business obviously understood the cost of the processes of the business by monitoring the yield from each raw material (King, ‘Management Finance and Cost Control’).
18. Fleischman and Tyson , “The Evolution,” 92, 95.
19. Ibid., 97.
20. Ibid., 99.
21. Shapiro, “Agency Theory.”
22. Wiseman, Cuevas-Rodriguez, and Gomes-Meija, “Towards a Social Theory.”
23. Shapiro, “Agency Theory,” 269–270.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. For a fuller appreciation of agency theory refer to the overviews by Eisenhardt (“Agency Theory”), Shapiro (“Agency Theory”), and Wiseman et al. (“Towards a Social Theory”).
28. Pratt and Zeckhauser, Principals and Agents.
29. Arrow, “Control in Large Organizations.”
30. Jensen, “Separation of Ownership.”
31. Perrow, Complex Organizations.
32. Lubatkin, Lane, Collin and Very, “An Embeddedness.”
33. Ibid.
34. Shapiro, “Agency Theory.”
35. There was no standing navy until the mid-sixteenth century. Warlow, The Purser.
36. ‘Provisions’ refers to food and drink. ‘Necessaries’ is applied to other consumables, such as coal, firewood, hammocks, bedding, wooden plates and bowls, and candles. Morriss, Foundations, 317.
37. Leyland, “The Purser,” 322.
38. Morriss, Foundations, 317.
39. Tanner, “The Administration.”
40. Ehrman, “Pepys’s Organization.”
41. This is a reference to George Legge, 1st Baron of Dartmouth (1647–91). He was commander of the Channel Fleet when it was mobilised to meet the invasion threat posed by William of Orange in 1688. He took an active interest in defence preparations, and informed Pepys of his concerns. Dartmouth was a strong supporter of James II. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London following William’s accession to the throne.
42. Legge Dartmouth, “The Manuscripts,” 218.
43. Ehrman, The Navy.
44. Warlow, The Purser.
45. MacDonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy.
46. Documents at the National Archives of the UK include pursers’ bonds dating from 1655. (Cock and Rodger, A Guide).
47. Scorgie and Reiss, “Impact of Naval Experience,” 66.
48. Claxton, “Foreign Miscellany.”
49. CEO, Regulations and Instructions, 1807, 33.
50. By 1825 the requirement for a First Rate appointment was reduced to £1000 from £1200. CEO, Regulations and Instructions.
51. CEO, Additional Instructions.
52. Rodger, The Wooden World.
53. Ibid.
54. Macdonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy.
55. Standard costing is a form of budgeting developed to control costs. The costs expected to be incurred in making a particular product or delivering a particular service are determined after an investigation. They are then used as a point of comparison with actual costs incurred. Variances arising from differences in purchase price, and differences in quantities used, can be identified separately. In this case, the direct materials standard allowance would be the budgeted cost of food and other necessaries required to keep a ship of a particular size in service for a given period of time. Jones, Accounting for Non-specialists.
56. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761, 236; Warlow, The Purser, 32.
57. Macdonald, “Two Years off Provence,” 445.
58. CEO, Purser’s Instructions.
59. Scorgie and Reiss, “Impact of Naval Experience,” 65–66.
60. Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts, 161, 168.
61. Macdonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy, 95.
62. Macdonald, “Two Years off Provence.”
63. Rodger, The Wooden World.
64. Ibid., 94.
65. Brock, John Copland
66. Ibid.
67. Blake and Lawrence, The Illustrated Companion, 70.
68. Neale, History of the Mutiny.
69. Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts.
70. Leyland, “The Purser,” 322.
71. Rodger, The Wooden World, 97–98.
72. Pepys’ diary on 22 November 1665 quoted in Tanner, “The Administration,” 80.
73. Warlow, The Purser, 19.
74. The commission for providing these items was ½ pence per man per day. Brock, John Copland.
75. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761.
76. This indicated that the ship was commanded by a senior officer from Portsmouth or Plymouth. Brock, John Copland.
77. Brock, John Copland.
78. CEO, 1807, Regulations and Instructions, 81.
79. Unger, “Trades, Ports and Ships.”
80. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean.
81. Fusaro, “The Invasion.”
82. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean.
83. Upton, The Law of Nations.
84. Royal Naval Museum, The Papers.
85. Rodger, The Wooden World.
86. Brock, John Copland, 25.
87. Anonymous Midshipman of the Last Century, “Recollections,” 43.
88. This measure of dry capacity (i.e. bushel) was derived from the standard established in Winchester during the reign of Edgar 959–975 ad. It was replaced by Imperial measures in 1824.
89. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761, 237.
90. Claxton, “Foreign Miscellany.”
91. Many derogatory nicknames for the purser were derived from his use of short measures, including ‘Mr. Nipcheese.’ Blake and Lawrence, The Illustrated Companion, 101; Brock, John Copland.
92. ‘The king allows one tun of cask waste for a 100 men per month; 2 iron-hoops, and 3 biscuit bags. You must take the total of your Victualling, and divide by 28, and cast off the last two figures towards the right hand’. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1756, 236.
93. Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts.
94. Pyend, cited by Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts, also Navy Records Society, Publications.
95. Morriss, Foundations, 319.
96. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761, 74.
97. Pyend, cited by Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts,162.
98. Brock, John Copland.
99. Other dubious practices were common. Short allowance money was supposed to be paid to the men directly, to compensate them for any scarcity of provisions, but sometimes this money was paid elsewhere. Slops were bought from a contractor.
100. The master was a warrant officer responsible for navigation, fitting out the ship, and ensuring there were sufficient sailing supplies aboard.
101. The boatswain was a warrant officer responsible for rigging, cables, anchors and boats.
102. Brock, John Copland.
103. Young and Brisbane, Nautical Dictionary, 89.
104. Exeter Flotilla, Purser’s Slops, n.p.
105. Brock, John Copland, 23.
106. The Times of 29 June 1802 reported that ‘Mr. Cocks, Purser in the Navy, stood in the pillory yesterday opposite the Admiralty, for defrauding His Majesty of Naval Stores.’
107. Brock, John Copland.
108. Tanner, Discourses of the Navy, 175 and The Navy Manuscripts, 163.
109. Tanner, The Navy Manuscripts, 161.
110. Mackie, The Year of Mutinies.
111. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean, 446.
112. Mackie, The Year of Mutinies.
113. Orth, “Voices from the Lower Deck.”
114. To compensate pursers for wastage losses, a credit of one ninth of the total amount issued was added when the purser’s accounts were completed and passed. Macdonald, British Navy’s Victualling Board, 104.
115. Gill, The Naval Mutinies.
116. CEO, Regulations and Instructions, 1807; and Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1807.
117. Macdonald, “Two Years off Provence.”
118. Macdonald and Jones, “The Introduction.”
119. Morriss, “The Supply.”
120. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1825.
121. CEO, Additional Instructions; Claxton, “Foreign Miscellany.”
122. The thirteenth edition of the Regulations published in 1790 consisted of 232 pages, but by 1806 when the fourteenth edition was published, it had grown to 440 pages. Macdonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy.
123. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1690, 188.
124. CEO, Regulations and Instructions, 1807; and Additional Instructions and Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1825.
125. Rodger, The Wooden World.
126. The number of purser’s accounts considered by the Board increased during periods of war. Following Admiralty agreement to pay staff overtime to clear the backlog arising from the French Revolutionary War, it was reported in November 1805 that the time to process purser’s accounts had been reduced from 18 to eight months. There is also evidence that the Board did not consider its accounting role to be a priority. Macdonald, The British Navy, 86–89.
127. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1807.
128. Ibid.
129. CEO, Additional Instructions.
130. CEO, Pursers Instructions, 4.
131. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761.
132. CEO, Additional Instructions.
133. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761, 71.
134. Rodger, The Wooden World.
135. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761.
136. Rodger, The Wooden World.
137. Although transactions needed to be supported by vouchers from suppliers, and to be countersigned by another ships’ officer, this required collusion or alteration of the vouchers after they had been signed. Macdonald, The British Navy’s Victualling Board.
138. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1807, 19.
139. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761.
140. Macdonald, “Two Years off Provence.”
141. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761, 62.
142. Morriss, Foundations, 317.
143. CEO, Regulations and Instructions, 1807, 49.
144. Macdonald, The British Navy’s Victualling Board.
145. Brock, John Copland.
146. CEO, Additional Instructions.
147. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1825.
148. CEO, Additional Instructions.
149. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1825, 127.
150. CEO, Additional Instructions.
151. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1756, 192–195.
152. CEO, Pursers Instructions, No VIII.
153. CEO, Pursers Instructions, No X.
154. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1756, 197.
155. CEO, Pursers Instructions.
156. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 45.
157. Ibid., 46.
158. Ibid.
159. Rodger, The Wooden World.
160. CEO, Pursers Instructions, No XXX.
161. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1756, 197.
162. Knight and Wilcox, Sustaining the Fleet, 25.
163. Macdonald, Feeding Nelson’s Navy, 74.
164. Knight, “Politics and Trust,” 133.
165. Boyns and Edwards, “The Construction,” 4.
166. Fleischman and Tyson, “The Evolution,” 95.
167. Ibid.
169. Morriss, Foundations, 319.
170. Knight and Wilcox, Sustaining the Fleet, 26, 67, provide an example of a Board messenger who accepted a Christmas gift box from a contractor in December 1812 and was accused by the Board of ‘gross impropriety of conduct.’ Twenty years earlier this would probably have been ignored.
171. See endnote 55 for an explanation of standard costing. If the normal practice was to withhold one eighth of the allowed ‘materials’, then it would be expected that in most cases material usage would be under budget or have a favourable variance.
172. Shapiro, “Agency Theory.”
173. Two such pursers who served as Commissioners of the Board were John Aubin (1808 to 1822) and Nicholas Brown (1808 to 1830). Macdonald, The British Navy’s Victualling Board, 227–228.
174. Mitnick, “Theory of Agency.”
175. Knight and Wilcox, Sustaining the Fleet.
176. Mountaine, The Seaman’s, 1761.
177. CEO, Regulations and Instructions for Pursers, 1825.
178. Eisenhardt, “Agency Theory.”
179. Macdonald, The British Navy’s Victualling Board.
180. Steinmo, “Historical Institutionalism.”