That sounds like a great way to get "deciders" to override good uses of money from the people below who actually have an understanding of when it needs to be sp

That sounds like a great way to get "deciders" to override good uses of money from the people below who actually have an understanding of when it needs to be spent. It is a trust problem because organizations generally aren't worried about losing money they don't spend that year or the next. They're worried about never getting it back. When you use a ratchet approach to budgets it doesn't allow organizations to respond to responsibilities which may be cyclical in nature. This leads to permanent worst case thinking which leads to hording.