Re: out of curiosity
@ John Brown (no body) "I wonder why the bean counters never seem to see HR as a cost centre ripe for cuts?"
Simply because there's a kind of MAD that exists between the bean counters and the HR droids. The BCs know where the money is and control who gets what; while HR know all the dirt on everyone and where the bodies are buried. Thus one lot gets their unchecked expanding empire plus juicy bonuses for reducing the empires (and costs) of others; while the other lot are confident the finer, more questionable aspects of their employee records never see the light of day so they aren't subject to closer inspection.
