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.
Andrew Housser is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, and the co-founder and co-CEO of digital personal finance company Achieve. Previously, Housser worked in the financial services industry, doing private equity investing with Littlejohn & Co., and working in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney. He has been named to the Silicon Valley 40 under 40 list and is a past winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Northern California.
Outside of Achieve, Housser is a part-time angel investor and has served on the board of directors of several startup companies and two independent schools. Andrew received his MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and received a BA summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Samuel Capuano, principal at The Bonadio Group, is responsible for providing internal audit and compliance services to financial institution clients. He has been a bank auditor for 30 years.
Mike Markland is the founder and CEO of ATMA.
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:
