# Roll a budget forward
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User permissions: Budgets & Forecasts and Manage Budgets & Forecasts
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A *rolling* budget is one in which you are always budgeting for the same number of future periods, for example, the next 12 or 18 months. In effect, you have one budget workbook that is constantly in use. This method of budgeting is an alternative to [copying a budget forward into a next financial year](https://docs.phocassoftware.com/budgets-and-forecasts/owner-and-administrator/clone-a-workbook), which results in multiple budget workbooks.
To maintain a rolling budget, you roll the budget forward into the next period by [editing the dates in the budget setup](https://docs.phocassoftware.com/budgets-and-forecasts/owner-and-administrator/edit-a-budget-or-forecast-workbook-setup), as illustrated in the image below. This process adds one or more period columns to the end of the budget period, while at the same time, removes one or more period columns at the beginning of the budget period, according to your selected date range.
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