Fortissimo, we had a leaning period in the CS. Routine forms such as attendance had been raised weekly and submitted monthly, then filed and retained for 3 years. It was determined that nothing was actually done with them and they were binned. I am sure something like that has crept back in.
On T&S we were allowed to book through the booking service, subsist, and then submit claims on line, no countersignature. Oversight was simply a matter of calling down the figures and seeing that they were broadly in line one person to the next and subject to random audit. Great.
Then the boss decided we needed prior approval - a new form was generated and submitted. When approved, even for meetings at his own HQ, we would then submit the claim and send a printed copy to HQ. Not great.
No bureaucracy can exist with out bureaucracy.