Why You Should Ditch Your Annual Budget If your business needs to be nimble, a rolling forecast is a better bet than an annual budget.

Q: Why should an entrepreneur use a rolling forecast instead of an annual budget?

A: Entrepreneurs need to be quick on their feet, able to adapt their businesses to the ebb and flow of an evolving marketplace. That basic fact explains why Steve Player has become a champion of the rolling forecast, which enables business owners to plan as little as 90 days ahead--and amend their plans along the way.

"A really good entrepreneur has plans to respond to wherever the business goes and however fast it gets there," says Player, managing director at Dallas-based planning and forecasting consulting firm The Player Group and director at Beyond Budgeting Round Table, an international organization dedicated to improving the financial planning process.