>>>>>>>>Surely you jest.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>A few years back at MS Cathy Pountney and I worked in the VFP lab until well after midnight (setup testing I think, Cathy?) and I recall starting that day a bit before 9 AM. I can also recall when I was doing cruise ship inventory and sales systems being up against hard deadlines (end of cruise) and putting in over 24 hours reconciling sales with inventory versus the ship's mainframe and our little Fox app.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Sounds familiar - the systems they have on most cruise ships suck. Balancing against them was nightmarish - the lack of reporting available is just stunning.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I have no doubt. What I can't figure out is why they would need to balance the books by the end of a cruise.
>>>>>
>>>>>Because everyone is leaving then.
>>>>
>>>>It was actually a serious question.
>>>
>>>It was actually a serious answer.
>>
>>OK. The part that confused me, then, is how accounting for a cruise ship is different from accounting for any other business that sells things. If I walk into a Target and buy something, they don't need to balance the books before I leave the store. They don't even need to balance the books that night before the store closes. As long as they have transaction records they can balance at the appropriate time, typically at the end of the month. Which in fact is done a few days after the end of the month. So what's different about a cruise ship?
>
>The fact that they deal in accounts that are open during the trip and closed at the end of it.

OK, I think I've got it now. Similar to a hotel needing all room charges up to date by checkout time, plus the transient factor mentioned by Edward. Thanks.