What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

First Class Accounts - Carlingford

Home
Australia
Carlingford, NSW
First Class Accounts - Carlingford

Call Website Contact the business

Give us your books and we will give you back your life. Run by Trudy Mendis, First Class Accounts. BAS Agent #26283169

We provide the following bookkeeping services for Small to Medium sized businesses:
• General Bookkeeping and compliance work
• Initial client set up and maintenance of accounting system
• Accounts payable and receivable
• Bank reconciliations
• Payroll, STP and PAYG
• BAS and IAS
• Training and support in MYOB and Xero
• Debt Management
• Cash Flow and Forecasting
Run by Trudy Mendis, First Class Accounts.

15/09/2026

I'm honored to have won the 2026 Brand Ambassador Award for First Class Accounts. This award recognises the hard work we've put into building strong relationships with our clients and community for both our own business and the First Class Accounts Brand. Thank you to the team!

13/09/2026

✅ **YOU HAVE OFFSHORE CONTRACTORS. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?**

**Part 6 of our Offshore Contractor Check series**

If you've followed this series and are now wondering whether your offshore arrangements are compliant...

**Don't panic — review them.**

The Pascua case does NOT mean every offshore contractor is suddenly an Australian employee.

But it is a good reminder that businesses shouldn't rely solely on an **“Independent Contractor Agreement”** without considering how the relationship actually operates.

Here are some questions to ask:

☑️ **WHO CONTROLS THE WORK?**
Do you tell the worker when, where and how to perform their work?

☑️ **HOW INDEPENDENT ARE THEY?**
Are they genuinely running their own business — or effectively working within yours?

☑️ **CAN THEY DELEGATE?**
Can they genuinely subcontract the work, or must they personally perform it?

☑️ **HOW ARE THEY ENGAGED?**
Are they delivering specific services or results, or filling an ongoing role within your business?

☑️ **DOES REALITY MATCH THE CONTRACT?**
Does your “Independent Contractor Agreement” accurately reflect what happens day to day?

☑️ **WHERE WERE THEY ENGAGED?**
If the relationship could actually be employment, where the worker was engaged and where the contract was formed may become important.

☑️ **HAVE YOU CHECKED THE OTHER OBLIGATIONS?**
PAYG withholding, superannuation and payroll tax have their own rules and should be considered separately rather than assumed from the Fair Work outcome.

💡 **The key message from this series?**

Having an offshore worker isn't the problem.

Having an arrangement you **think** is contracting without understanding how Australian law may classify it is where the risk can arise.

If you directly engage offshore workers and aren't sure whether your current arrangements should be reviewed, **contact First Class Accounts**.

We can help you look at the accounting, payroll and record-keeping implications, identify areas that may need further investigation, and work alongside your employment-law adviser where specialist legal advice is required.

📩 **Contact First Class Accounts to start the conversation.**

*General information only and not legal advice. Employment status and the application of Australian workplace laws depend on the circumstances of each engagement.*

10/09/2026

💰 IF YOUR OFFSHORE CONTRACTOR IS ACTUALLY AN EMPLOYEE — WHAT COULD THAT MEAN?

Part 5 of our Offshore Contractor Check series

Remember our two questions:

1️⃣ Is the offshore worker legally an employee?
2️⃣ If so, do Australian workplace laws apply to that relationship?

If both are YES, potential obligations may include:

💰 Minimum wages & award rates
🏖️ Annual leave & personal/carer's leave
📅 Other National Employment Standards
⚖️ General protections
📄 Notice & other entitlements
🔨 Possibly, unfair dismissal protections

A business paying someone as an offshore "contractor" could face back-pay or entitlement claims if the arrangement is later found to be employment.

⚠️ But be careful with numbers circulating online. There's no standard liability figure per offshore worker. In Pascua's own case, the compensation awarded was $10,800 (15 weeks' pay) — a modest, fact-specific outcome, not a six-figure blanket sum. Real exposure depends on:

✔️ Hours worked ✔️ Amounts already paid ✔️ Award/classification ✔️ Leave entitlements ✔️ How long the arrangement ran

And super, PAYG, payroll tax? Don't assume the Fair Work answer carries over. These sit under separate legislation with their own rules — e.g. super guarantee obligations for overseas work can depend on whether the employer is an Australian tax resident, not just the worker's employment status. Each area needs its own check.

NEXT 👉 Our final post: what should you actually do if your business has offshore contractors?

*General information only and not legal, tax or employment advice. Individual circumstances should be professionally assessed.*

09/09/2026

I’m attending the First Class Accounts Conference and fitting in some well-earned rest and relaxation. If remote work lets us pick our office, why not choose paradise? This week I’m based in beautiful FNQ — Port Douglas and Cairns — enjoying a change of scenery. What’s your favourite place to work remotely? Share your top spots.

08/09/2026

🌏 "BUT THEY WORK OVERSEAS — SURELY AUSTRALIAN FAIR WORK LAWS DON'T APPLY?"

Part 4 of our Offshore Contractor Check series

Not necessarily.

Under section 35 of the Fair Work Act 2009, an "Australian-based employee" includes anyone employed by an Australian employer —

"whether the employee is located in Australia or elsewhere.”

Simply working from the Philippines, India or elsewhere does NOT automatically put someone outside the Australian Fair Work system. (There's also a separate pathway: someone whose primary place of work is in Australia, or who was engaged in Australia and later sent overseas, is Australian-based too.)

But there's an exception. The Act excludes an employee who is:

"engaged outside Australia … to perform duties outside Australia.”

So there are TWO separate questions:

1️⃣ Is the worker actually an employee rather than a contractor?
2️⃣ If they are an employee, do Australia's Fair Work laws apply to their overseas employment?

Question 2 often comes down to where the employment contract was formed — not where the work is done. And that can turn on something surprisingly small: under Australian contract law, a contract is generally formed where the final acceptance is received. In one case, an employee hired to work entirely in Argentina was still found Australian-based simply because his signed contract was emailed back to, and opened in, the Sydney office.

So:

🌏 Working overseas does NOT automatically mean Fair Work laws apply.
🌏 It does NOT automatically mean they don't, either.

The individual circumstances matter — right down to where an email was opened.

NEXT 👉 If Fair Work DOES apply, what could the worker be entitled to? That's Part 5.

General information only and not legal advice. The geographical application of the Fair Work Act can be complex and should be assessed for the particular circumstances.

06/09/2026

🔍 EMPLOYEE OR CONTRACTOR? IT'S MORE THAN WHAT THE CONTRACT SAYS

Part 3 of our Offshore Contractor Check series

Your agreement says:
"Independent Contractor."

Does that settle the question?

❌ Not necessarily — and less so than it used to.

Since 26 August 2024, a legislative change (s.15AA of the Fair Work Act) means that for businesses covered by the relevant Fair Work provisions, the employee/contractor test looks at the "real substance, practical reality and true nature" of the relationship — the contract terms and how it's actually performed. That reversed an earlier approach where a well-drafted contract could be close to decisive on its own.

In simple terms, you need to look at the relationship as a whole.

Here are some questions worth asking about your offshore worker:

🔹 CONTROL Who decides how and when the work is performed?
🔹 HOURS Do you require them to work set hours every week?
🔹 DELEGATION Can they genuinely send someone else to perform the work, or must they personally do it?
🔹 INTEGRATION Are they providing a service through their own business — or functioning like another member of your team?
🔹 FINANCIAL RISK Are they genuinely operating their own business and carrying commercial risk?
🔹 ONGOING WORK Are they engaged to deliver particular projects or results, or do they perform an ongoing role within your business?
🔹 WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS? Does the way you work together in practice match what's written in the agreement?

No single question automatically determines the answer.

But consider this:

If someone works regular hours, reports to your manager, receives daily instructions, works within your systems, must personally perform the work and effectively operates as part of your team...

Simply calling them an "independent contractor" may not be enough.

💡 One exception: contractors earning above the "contractor high income threshold" ($190,100 for 2026–27) can give a written opt-out notice, keeping the older contract-focused test instead. Worth knowing if your offshore engagements involve senior or highly paid specialists.

⚠️ And if they ARE an employee, there's another very important question:

Does Australian Fair Work law apply when the employee is sitting overseas?

We'll tackle that in Part 4.

General information only and not legal advice. Employee/contractor classification depends on the circumstances of each engagement.

03/09/2026

🌏 THE FILIPINO OFFSHORE WORKER WHO TOOK HER CASE TO FAIR WORK

Part 2 of our Offshore Contractor Check series

Meet Joanna Pascua.

Ms Pascua lived in the Philippines and worked remotely as a legal assistant for an Australian business.

Her agreement described her as an:

“Independent Contractor”

But when the relationship ended, she made an unfair dismissal application to Australia's Fair Work Commission.

The business argued that she was a contractor — not an employee.

The Fair Work Commission examined the contractual relationship and found that she was actually an employee.

The business sought permission to appeal.

In 2025, a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission refused permission to appeal and found no sufficient basis to disturb the finding that she was an employee.

Ms Pascua subsequently succeeded in her unfair dismissal case.

⚠️ But here's the important part:

This case does NOT establish that every offshore contractor working for an Australian business is automatically an employee.

Instead, it demonstrates why businesses cannot necessarily rely on the word “contractor” in an agreement.

The actual legal relationship needs to be considered.

And there's another question:

How do you tell the difference between an employee and a genuine contractor?

That's Part 3.

Cases: Pascua v Doessel Group Pty Ltd [2024] FWC 2669 and Doessel Group Pty Ltd v Joanna Pascua [2025] FWCFB 43. General information only and not legal advice.

02/09/2026

⚠️ **OFFSHORE CONTRACTORS: ARE THEY REALLY CONTRACTORS?**

If your business directly engages someone in the Philippines or another overseas country, this is worth knowing.

A Fair Work Commission case — Pascua v Doessel Group Pty Ltd — involved a paralegal living and working remotely in the Philippines for a Queensland law firm.

Her agreement described her as an independent contractor.

The Commission found she was actually an employee — and that finding was upheld on appeal in 2025.

Two things stood out:

1️⃣ The label didn't matter. What mattered was the substance of the relationship — things like control, integration into the business, and pay relative to the award rate.

2️⃣ Working overseas didn't put her outside the Fair Work Act's reach. On appeal, the Commission confirmed there's nothing stopping an Australian employer from having an employee who happens to work overseas.

❌ This does NOT mean every offshore contractor is automatically an Australian employee. It's a fact-specific test, not a blanket rule.

And it's not just a Fair Work issue — the ATO applies its own tests for tax, PAYG and super, which don't always line up with the Fair Work test. More on that soon.

Over the next two weeks, we're breaking down what happened, what Australian law actually says, and what business owners using offshore workers should be checking.

**NEXT: What happened in the Pascua case?**

21/08/2026

Wednesday Business Fact 💡

Would you recognise a WHS hazard if it was a manager’s behaviour rather than a broken staircase?

For many small businesses, WHS still brings to mind slips, trips, machinery and physical injuries.

But workplace safety also includes psychological health.

Behaviours such as yelling, aggressive communication, bullying, unreasonable demands or creating an environment where employees feel they are constantly “walking on eggshells” can create psychosocial risks that businesses need to identify and manage.

And this is becoming increasingly important in NSW.

From 1 July 2026, approved NSW Codes of Practice became minimum performance standards, unless a business uses another approach that provides an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.

SafeWork NSW has also identified psychosocial risks as one of its regulatory priorities for 2026–27.

For business owners, the takeaway is simple:

WHS isn’t only about fixing the broken step.

It’s also about recognising when workplace behaviour, management practices or culture may be creating a risk to your team.

That means having processes to:
• identify psychosocial hazards
• give employees a way to raise concerns
• properly document and respond to complaints
• put practical controls in place
• check that those controls are actually working

Having a workplace policy is a good start. But a policy sitting in a folder doesn’t manage a risk.

Psychological safety is increasingly part of WHS compliance — not simply an HR conversation.

20/08/2026

Friday Business Education 📚

Psychosocial WHS: What does it actually mean for a small business?

Most small business owners want the same thing: a workplace where their people feel safe, respected and supported.

The challenge isn't necessarily agreeing with psychosocial safety.

It's understanding what you're actually expected to **do about it** when you have a team of 5, 10 or 20 people — and no HR or WHS department down the hallway.

With psychosocial hazards becoming an increasing focus of WHS regulation in NSW, small business owners may understandably be thinking:

**“We want a safe workplace, but please make the rules practical, clear and achievable.”**

Because for a small business, the owner is often wearing multiple hats already — managing staff, customers, cash flow, suppliers and compliance.

So psychosocial WHS needs to translate into practical questions:

• What behaviours should I be looking out for?
• When does workplace stress become a WHS risk?
• What should I do when an employee raises a concern?
• What needs to be documented?
• How do I manage these risks without an HR department?

The goal shouldn't be to make small businesses afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing.

It should be to help owners understand their responsibilities and put **simple, practical processes** in place to protect their people and their business.

Because good WHS doesn't have to mean more red tape.

It starts with knowing what to look for — and knowing what to do when something isn't right.

Address

Services Available In:
Carlingford, NSW
2118

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61414587119

Website

https://www.firstclassaccounts.com/carlingford/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when First Class Accounts - Carlingford posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to First Class Accounts - Carlingford:

Want your business to be the top-listed finance company in Carlingford?