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.
Gordon is a principal analyst at Forrester Research. He serves CIOs, focusing on the best practices for business, technology, and enterprise architecture transformation. He is a recognized expert in helping companies use enterprise architecture, strategy, governance, and organizational design to address their current and future business challenges in the age of the customer.
Gordon came to Forrester with more than 35 years of business and technology management experience in financial services, telecommunications, information technology, and governmental organizations. Prior to Forrester, Gordon served in various roles including CIO, CTO, chief architect, and business unit general manager.
Gordon has a Ph.D. in business administration (specializing in consumer behavior in eCommerce) from Northcentral University; an MBA from Huron University; an M.A. in finance (specializing in M&A) from London Business School; and a B.A. (first-class honors) from Kingston University in the UK. Gordon is also an ACCA accountant.
Dr. Gregory Kasten, MD, MBA, AIFA, CFP, has more than 30 years of experience with behavioral finance and serves as founder and CEO of Unified Trust Company.
Corey Stone, a former payments executive and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau assistant director, is board chair of Connex, a credit union in Connecticut. He is also a senior advisor to the Financial Health Network and to Oliver Wyman.
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:
