Budgets, like business plans, come in different makes and models depending on the purpose for which a company wants to use them. If its purpose is to plan strategies for the future, the company uses a long-term budget to set general goals for the next five or ten years. If its purpose is to plan the details of its operations, the company prepares a short-term budget, generally for a single year, to translate its goals into financial terms. Whether a budget is long-range or short-range, smart managers will revise them periodically, as conditions change.
The one-year budget is most commonly known as an operational budget, designed to help a company or the departments within that company get through one more year of sales and production cycles with some semblance of financial success. The 12-month time frame does make the budget somewhat strategic in nature, but by and large its purpose is to anticipate and plan for coming issues and trends within the business year.