# Introduction - Budget

A budget is an expected figure per account per period.

**Video coming soon:** Building a budget and reading it against what actually happened.

On its own it changes nothing: its value is entirely in the comparison against what actually happened, and in whether anyone acts on the difference.

![The Budget screen listing three budgets with columns for Name, Fiscal Year, Period, Income, Expense, Net Budget, Accounts and Created.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/budget/budget-list.png)

*A budget is a set of figures per account per period. Net Budget is income less expense.*

## What a budget is not

- It is **not** a control. Nothing in SorviAI Finance blocks a transaction for exceeding budget.
- It is **not** a forecast of cash. It is per account, not per bank balance.
- It does **not** post anything. No budget figure ever appears in your accounts.
- It is **not** useful unless somebody reads the variance monthly.

> **Note:**
>
> **Budgets live entirely in reporting**
>
> The only place a budget appears is next to actuals in a comparison. That is the whole feature, and it is enough.

## What to budget

Income and expense accounts. Balance sheet accounts are rarely budgeted, because a budget for receivables is really a forecast of collections, which is a different exercise with different inputs.