Putting cash up front, bosses import rare animal (10)
I believe the answer is:
rhinoceros
'animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'putting cash up front bosses import rare' is the wordplay.
'putting cash' becomes 'rhino' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'up front' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'bosses' becomes 'ceos' (Chief Executive Officers).
'import' indicates putting letters inside.
'rare' becomes 'r' (listed by Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations).
'ceos' placed around 'r' is 'ceros'.
'rhino'+'ceros'='RHINOCEROS'
(Other definitions for rhinoceros that I've seen before include "Horned creature" , "It's beastly" , "Large horned animal" , "Thick-skinned beast" , "Endangered animal" .)