If your Australian business handles cash, do not assume the theft section protecting stock also protects your takings. Identify whether you have purchased money cover, then check the cash’s actual location and custody arrangements against its terms. The relevant question is not simply whether your business is insured, but whether this particular money exposure falls within the section you hold.
This is general information for Australian readers, not personal financial advice. Cover depends on your policy schedule, PDS and policy wording, including exclusions, conditions, limits and excesses. Confirm your own arrangements with your insurer or broker.
Money cover is a separate check from stock theft
AAMI’s small business insurance overview lists Theft and Money as separate additional covers. Its Theft summary refers to contents, specified items and stock; its Money summary describes business money in transit, at the premises or in custody at a private home. This is a provider-specific product summary, not a rule that every Australian business policy covers all three situations.
Read the applicable wording and your schedule together. A menu of available options does not establish what you bought. Likewise, a certificate showing public liability does not establish that a money section is included. See our certificate of currency checklist for the separate task of checking what a certificate actually confirms.
Map where your takings go
Write down the normal cash journey without putting sensitive security details into a public document. A simple private worksheet can identify the places and handovers that need a policy check:
- During trading: Where is money held and what is the highest amount awaiting reconciliation?
- After closing: Is it retained at the business, collected, banked or taken elsewhere?
- In transit: Who carries it, and what journey or collection arrangement is used?
- At a private home: Does a proprietor or employee hold business money before banking?
- During unusual periods: Could a busy weekend or a delayed banking trip increase the amount held?
Give the insurer the actual arrangement and ask which clauses apply. Do not invent a universal safe requirement, unattended-vehicle rule or permitted custodian: those are matters for the particular contract. Ask whether your circumstances require an amendment before relying on protection.
Use peak exposure rather than average takings
Imagine a hypothetical retailer whose ordinary cash balance is modest but whose weekend event leaves more money awaiting banking than usual. An average daily figure may not describe that exposure. Establish the largest plausible balance at each stage and compare it with the relevant contractual limit and any sublimit.
Ask whether a stated limit applies separately to premises, private-home custody and transit, or whether a shared limit applies. Confirm whether particular conditions alter the available amount. Do not multiply a headline figure by the number of locations unless the wording actually allows that calculation.
The purchase price of stock, sales receipts and the physical cash balance are also different records. A sales report can help explain takings, but does not by itself prove how much cash was present at the time of a loss. Keep routine reconciliations and banking records so the business can explain the figures accurately.
Ask about the loss scenario, not only the location
Describe the concern precisely: robbery, a break-in, an unexplained shortfall, an employee-related loss or another event may raise different contractual questions. Being at an insured address does not establish that every cause of missing money is insured. Ask what events, evidence and exclusions the money section addresses, without treating the overview’s short description as a full promise.
If you change the arrangement, distinguish a requested amendment from an accepted one. Obtain the processed schedule or written confirmation identifying the section, limit, premium change if applicable, and effective date. Paying for an amendment should not be described as retroactive cover for money already missing.
If money goes missing
Prioritise personal safety and obtain emergency help where needed. Preserve reconciliation records, deposit evidence and relevant incident information without confronting a suspected offender. Notify the insurer through its official claims channel and ask what documentation it requires. Do not alter the accounts to make an uncertain amount look exact.
Keep the claim reference and explain any uncertainty openly. Submission, evidence receipt, assessment and payment approval are different stages. If you later find a banking record that changes the amount, provide an evidence-backed correction under the existing reference rather than lodging a duplicate claim.
Before the next busy trading period
- Confirm the money section is actually purchased.
- Check every location and custody handover against the wording.
- Reconcile peak amounts with the applicable limits and excesses.
- Keep accepted changes and effective dates with the schedule.
The aim is to match the business’s real cash journey to the purchased contract, not to infer cash protection from a general business insurance label.
