[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Jonathan Patschke]

On Thu, 21 Jan 2010, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> What makes you think a private corporation would have done anything
> differently?

Because corporations are allowed to have savings accounts.  They also
generally have profit motive instead of guaranteed funding.

> A one-time discount can't be planned for,

It can when the vendor advertises it before you need the product.

> In your example I assume the discount was a time-limited offer (it only
> existed in this acct period, not later one, so you'd have had to borrow
> money not save it).

You assume incorrectly.  If we could've secured permission, we'd have held
the money until the subsequent accounting period and bought then.

> Why was there anymoney available for this purchase when it wasn't needed
> for several months, sounds like they really didn't plan their budget
> 'burn rate' correctly...

Because the accounting period for Texas state agencies is two years.
There's a lot of slop in a period that large.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  ) "Science is what we understand well enough to explain
Elgin, TX         (   to a computer.  Art is everything else we do."
USA                )                                    --Dr. Donald Knuth