Smart Alerts
Smart Alerts are automated notifications that keep you and your clients informed when something important happens in the financials — without anyone having to manually check. They're designed to catch things that matter before they become problems.
How Smart Alerts work
Clockwork continuously monitors your financial data as it syncs from your accounting system. When it detects a condition that meets an alert threshold — whether that's a cash runway concern, a budget variance, or an unusual spike in expenses — it triggers an alert automatically.
Alerts are delivered to the relevant users based on their notification preferences, and each alert includes enough context to understand what triggered it and what to do next.
Types of Smart Alerts
Cash Alerts
Low cash warning — Triggered when your projected cash balance is forecast to fall below a defined threshold within a set number of days
Cash runway change — Notifies you when your runway has shortened meaningfully based on updated actuals or forecast changes
Variance Alerts
Budget vs. actuals — Triggered when actual results deviate from your forecast by more than a defined percentage or dollar amount
Unusual expense spike — Flags when an expense account comes in significantly above its historical average or forecast
Performance Alerts
Metric threshold crossed — Notifies you when a key metric (like gross margin or burn rate) moves outside of a defined range
Revenue miss — Triggered when revenue actuals fall meaningfully short of the forecast for a given period
Data Alerts
Sync delay — Notifies you if your accounting data hasn't synced within the expected window, so you know your models may not reflect the latest data
Who receives alerts?
Alert notifications are sent to users based on their role and notification settings. Admins receive alerts by default. You can configure which users receive which types of alerts in Settings → Notifications.
For accounting firms managing multiple clients, alerts can be configured per company — so the right people are notified for the right clients without noise.
Configuring your alert thresholds
Some alerts use default thresholds that work for most businesses, while others can be customized to match your specific situation. To review and adjust your alert settings, go to Settings → Notifications and configure the thresholds and delivery preferences that make sense for your business.
Need help? Reach out to our support chat in the bottom right of your screen any time.