Teetering Head,
I remember those days well. In the first few months after Xmas, everyone rushing around to see what was in the travel budget to see if any of the recce's or training ex that had been put off could now be afforded.
Funny thing, since I left, I noticed that many civilian companies operate in very similar ways to the MOD. We have budgets (I also control a + million pound budget), we plan, midway through the business year we have a look at where we are and re-forecast and at year end see what the damage is. The thing that we don't seem to have is the mid-budget crisis where everybody starts to think we're going to overspend and cancels everything for the next 6 months.
I wonder why the overspend anx is so prevalent in the forces ?