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.
Kathryn Underwood is president and CEO of Ledyard National Bank.
Ben Lorica is the chief data scientist at O'Reilly Media, Inc. and is the program director of both the Strata Data Conference and the O'Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference. He has applied business intelligence, data mining, machine learning and statistical analysis in a variety of settings including direct marketing, consumer and market research, targeted advertising, text mining and financial engineering. His background includes stints with an investment management company, internet startups and financial services.
Zac Townsend is a partner at Deciens Capital, a venture capital fund focused entirely on early-stage financial technology. He is the former chief data officer of California, co-founder of Standard Treasury, and a product leader at Silicon Valley Bank and Gusto.
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:
