1. Lack of authority to enforce IT rules. The managers / directors / VPs who are beyond reach of IT rule enforcement are often some of the worst wasters (bandwidth, toner, manpower, etc.) in any company and they're typically the first ones to bring in viruses and trojans.

2. The perception by some CFO's that money saved in the short term by meddling with IT's budget will not cost just as much (or more) when we finally get approval to spend. I plan for equipment replacement. I budget for equipment replacement. My budget gets approved. I make other decisions based on the expectation that my approved budget is spendable. I worry over spec's and quotes until I know exactly what we need to buy. And then, when I start the process to actually purchase something, I'm stonewalled. How about instead, I tell them what we need, they tell me what part of that I can have, and then they actually let me spend it how I best see fit!