<![CDATA[The tendency to concentrate expenditures at the end of the fiscal year remains a classic phenomenon in public financial management at the work unit level. This study examines the practice of fiscal buffering within work units in Pati and Rembang Regencies through the observation of inventory stockpiling toward the close of the fiscal year. Grounded in the concept of budgetary slack and the implications of the "spend-it-or-lose-it" principle, this behavior is viewed as a defensive managerial strategy to safeguard budget allocations and achieve Budget Execution Performance Indicator (IKPA) targets. Employing a quantitative approach, this research analyzes the effect of goods expenditure balances reported in the Budget Realization Report (LRA) on inventory asset balances in the Fourth Quarter Balance Sheet for the 2023–2025 period. The data were processed using simple linear regression following a transformation via Blom’s Formula to satisfy the normality assumption. The empirical findings reveal that goods expenditures in the LRA have a positive and statistically significant effect on inventory balances in the Balance Sheet, with a regression coefficient of 0.223. These results indicate that year-end budget absorption acceleration is driven primarily by administrative pressures to exhaust remaining funds rather than by actual operational requirements. Consequently, budget managers are advised to establish priority-based procurement planning from the beginning of the year, while regulators should redesign the IKPA evaluation framework to encourage more balanced and effective budget absorption throughout the fiscal year.]]>
