- Programs that didn't spend all the money allocated.
What a stupid thing to do - I never understood this mentality in government. Department X manages it's finances smartly and decides to not blow all it's budget on stupid things in a mad rush at year end - and gets penalized for it.
I saw this repeatedly in by dealings with government and regulated organizations and it always lead to stupid and wasteful decisions. "Hey, I don't need your services just yet, but can you just send me a bill anyways for services to be rendered next year?"
Talk about about reinforcing negative behaviours.