Do you need financial analytics and planning capabilities you can't get from QuickBooks or Xero?
Are you looking for a solution to accurately forecast revenues, expenses, and cash flow?
Are you trying to find an app that allows you to configure custom 'what if' scenarios so you can discuss those predictions with your team in real-time?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Clockwork is an app you will want to check out.
Clockwork makes it easy to analyze transactional-level data from QuickBooks Online, compute financial metrics, and build artificially intelligent forecasts and customized models related to your business. While we previously made you 'App Aware' of Clockwork, and even included it in our 'Reporting & Analytics' series not long ago, recent enhancements make it worth 'Another Look.'
Clockwork's Metrics Dashboard can be fully customized with non-financial data to view budget vs. actuals going back 3 years and forward 5 years.
While Clockwork seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online, it also integrates with QuickBooks Desktop and Xero. When connected to QBO, Clockwork updates automatically every hour to sync the latest financial data from QuickBooks. I will summarize the data synchronization for QuickBooks Desktop and Xero later in this article.
Some of the key benefits of Clockwork include:
- 3-minute account creation;
- Custom Metrics dashboard;
- 52-week, weekly cash flow forecasts;
- 5-year financial modeling;
- 12-month balance sheet forecast;
- Budget vs. Actuals comparison;
- Scenario Planner with unlimited financial models;
- Headcount planner with payroll system integration;
- Non-financial assumption drivers import; and
- An Admin dashboard.
For accounting firms providing advisory services to clients with QuickBooks Online, Clockwork can provide results regarding your client's financial data in minutes. Simply connect to your clients' QuickBooks Online files, and a custom analysis will auto-populate a new dashboard of financial insights.
Clockwork's dashboard provides a real-time view of the actual and forecasted values from a high level. It also contains their AI-powered Score, giving an overall rating on the business's financial health and areas for improvement.
Clockwork can save you hours in the analysis and forecasting of client data. It provides a time-saving, economical tool from which you can provide indispensable advisory services to any number of clients. Their Clockwork Champion' partner program' provides discounts, benefits, marketing, and training opportunities based on the number of active clients you place on Clockwork. You can learn more about this program by signing up for a consultation.
But the objective measure of any app like Clockwork is the value of the information it provides. Clockwork easily lets you look at a business's current situation and future potential. Then, within moments, you can easily model various 'what-if' scenarios that can significantly impact the revenues, costs of goods, and expenses to determine the best forward strategy in any situation.
Clockwork's assumption builder gives you complete control over financial forecasting. It makes financial modeling the easiest thing to do by removing complexities or human error.
Clockwork's financial modeling will help you plan and advise your clients by predicting all the changes in their businesses in minutes, not days and days of spreadsheet work. Turn numbers into meaningful plans for success that help you convey a future of revenue and growth for every client.
The financial model is the workhorse of the Clockwork app. This is where you can customize every aspect of your financial model when planning your revenues and expenses.
Clockwork offers per-company-based pricing with no minimum commitment on month-to-month subscriptions and offers a substantial discount when subscriptions are prepaid annually. As mentioned earlier, they also have a discounted 'partner' plan for Accounting, Bookkeeping, and ProAdvisor professionals providing services to multiple clients. As is our typical practice, Insightful Accountant doesn't discuss the specific pricing of apps we review; however, you can find pricing information HERE.
Using Clockwork with QuickBooks Online
As previously mentioned, Clockwork syncs with QuickBooks Online to update the latest financial QBO data automatically every hour. You will find Clockwork listed in the QBO App Store HERE.
Using Clockwork with QuickBooks Desktop
When using QuickBooks Desktop, users install a proprietary QBD Data Extractor that runs as an 'Integrated Application' using the QuickBooks Desktop SDK. When the Data Extractor app is executed, it connects with the associated QuickBooks Desktop file to generate data files that are 'zipped' into a 'QBD Data.zip' file and imported into Clockwork. For more details, see Clockwork's QuickBooks Desktop Integration Guide HERE.
Using Clockwork with Xero
According to the Xero App Store, creating a fully integrated custom synchronization between Xero and Clockwork takes only minutes. Clockwork does all the work of pulling in your Xero data and building personalized metrics, financial modeling, and forecasts. Then, Clockworks automatically updates every day to sync the latest data from Xero. Review the Clockwork AI listing in the Xero App Store for more information.
For additional information, see the Clockwork homepage. While you are there, you can sign up for a 14-day Free Trial.
Footnotes and Disclosures:
Portions of this feature, including graphical artwork contained therein, have been adapted from content used from the Clockwork website. All such source materials within this feature by Insightful Accountant were adapted and are furnished solely for educational purposes.
Clockwork and Clockwork-AI are registered trademarks of Clockwork ,a privately held, venture capital-backed, company.
As used herein, QuickBooks, including QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Xero is a registered trademark of Xero Ltd., a New Zealand-based, OTCMKTS (XROLF) traded, technology company with headquarters in Wellington, New Zealand.
Any trade names used herein, including those of the vendor (app/software) featured within this article, refer to products that may be registered, trademarked or otherwise held by their respective owners. They are referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. None of the vendors within this article have paid Insightful Accountant or the author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article, nor the inclusion of this product within the related series, does not represent any endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.