Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Bart McDonough is chief executive officer at Agio, a managed IT and cybersecurity service provider. He founded the organization in January 2010.· Bart is a distinguished speaker at the FBI International Conference on Cybersecurity, Dreamforce, the University of Oklahoma and HFMweek’s Hedge Fund Technology Leaders Summit.· He has counseled professionals at major financial institutions including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies and Bank of America.· He was previously managing director of information security, server infrastructure, database administration and application support at SAC Capital Advisors between 2001 and 2010.
Over his 35 years in the industry, Brent Kimball has earned a solid reputation as a specialist in pensions, retirement, and estate planning for business owners, as well as retirees. Brent has a BA from Dartmouth College and Masters in Education from Harvard University. He is also a Certified Financial Planner and Investment Advisor Representative of GWN Securities, Inc. Brent was a realLIFEstories honoree of the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE), for his effort to raise awareness of the need for Americans to include insurance in their financial plans.
Brent is a past president of the MDRT Foundation and is also very active in local charities. As a 30-year MDRT member, Brent won the MDRT Foundation’s Top Quality of Life Award for Alex’s Team Foundation, an organization he helped create, which provides grief support and training for nurses working in the pediatric oncology unit of Boston Children’s Hospital.
Bimal Gandhi is CEO of Uniken.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
