Based on the sound, observed, principle that if you don't spend every last cent (and then some) of your current budgetary allocation, your budgetary allocation for the following year will be significantly less, departments around Campus spend these last few days of SAP availability shopping up a storm. Those few hundred Rand remaining in the operating grant send secretaries scurrying for Waltons catalogues, while that non-recurrent staffing balance could employ some idle students, chilling while they await grad, to sort out the filing backlog.
For some, it's unavoidable - keeping back the last half-milion for the inevitable year-end emergency, only to find that this year it's running late so you may as well spend it and hope you can borrow ahead on next years allocation before its unleashing in March...
And, down in the accounting troll dens, the beancounters are getting restive because this behaviour - as predictable as the phases of the moon - doesn't conform to the spending plans submitted under duress. It means more meetings for them, more reports and more spreadsheets - more of what they enjoy, in other words - but it ruffles their virgoan desire for order, so it comes at a price. And costs, as we know, are those things that need to be contained.
Of course, there are those departments which deal with both problems simultaneously, translating unspent budget into kilograms of roesmoes through a simple journal entry, but for many, even that is not sufficient. At which point the creativity which has been steadfastly beaten out of everyone throughout the year is summoned for a final burst of glory.
Now, would I prefer the purple super-deluxe 500 page stapler with built-in coffee grinder, or the glow-in-the-dark letter opener with free flybook?