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.
Donika Kraeva is strategic communications manager at Dentacoin.
Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CSCA, CPA, CFA, is vice president of research & policy at the Institute of Management Accountants.
Stephanie Li is a researcher at Forrester Research serving B2C marketing professionals. Her research topics include customer trust and privacy, marketing database operations, and corporate values. She is interested in how customers’ growing privacy concerns are changing marketers’ behaviors and how the nature of marketing is changing amid global regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation. She is also tracking the convergence of marketing technology and advertising technology.
Previous Work Experience
Steph was previously a senior research associate on the B2C marketing team. She supported the team’s research on privacy, customer insights service providers, marketing measurement, TV and online video, corporate values, email marketing, and social marketing.
Before joining Forrester, Steph was an account executive at the public relations agency Text100. She supported B2B technology clients with their media and analyst relations programs and created contributed articles, press releases, blog posts, and other digital content.
Education
Steph graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in international affairs from Northeastern University.
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:
