​About the Grand Gate Gardens Case Study

​Grand Gate Gardens is a long-running bookkeeping case study built around a fictitious garden centre in Ontario, Canada.

At its core is a realistic bookkeeping simulation — but the case study itself is much bigger than that.

The Grand Gate Gardens Case Study is a place where I explore bookkeeping out loud, in public, using real-world documents, bank feeds, apps, software, and emerging tools.

A living bookkeeping experiment

Using the Grand Gate Gardens data and docs, I test and explore:

• Bookkeeping apps and integrations
• Workflow tools and document management systems
• AI tools that claim to “do the bookkeeping”
• New software features as they’re released

I work through these tools on video, using the same underlying documents and transactions, and compare the results to the simulation’s finalized reports and totals.


Learn along with me

The Case Study unfolds publicly on my channel, where I share:

• Walkthroughs and experiments
• Side-by-side comparisons
• Mistakes, corrections, and surprises
• Commentary on what I would — and wouldn’t — use in real client work

You’re invited to watch, follow along, and suggest what I should test next.
This is bookkeeping as it actually happens: iterative, curious, and sometimes messy.

Beyond one simulation

While the Grand Gate Gardens simulation is a structured, self-guided learning experience, the case study is intentionally open-ended.

Over time, I’d love to see:

• Different bookkeeping firms work through the same data
• Pricing, workflows, and approaches compared
• Quarter-end results benchmarked across Canada

Using the same underlying books, we can explore how different professionals — and different tools — approach the same work.

And yes… AI is part of the experiment

Many tools promise to “automate bookkeeping” or replace human judgment.

So the obvious question is:

What actually happens when those tools are given real bookkeeping data?

The Grand Gate Gardens Case Study gives me a controlled, realistic environment to test those claims — openly, critically, and on video.

Can an AI agent be trained on a bookkeeping simulation?
What does it get right?
What does it miss?
What still requires human judgment?

That’s part of what I’m exploring.

Join the experiment

The Grand Gate Gardens Case Study is a long-term, evolving project.

If you’re interested in:

• real-world bookkeeping
• modern tools and workflows
• AI and automation in accounting
• or simply seeing how things actually behave outside of demos

you’re welcome to follow along.

👉 Subscribe to the channel
👉 Suggest tools or ideas to test
👉 Watch the case study evolve over time

Welcome to the Grand Gate Gardens Case Study! I'm glad you're here!