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.
Grazia Cafagna is head of financial services global solution for CCH Tagetik at Wolters Kluwer. She has 20 years of experience in performance management solutions, with a focus on banking and insurance markets. She leads the FS global solutions, including ESG, IFRS17, IFRS9, solvency, and iXBRL, and guides the development of new pre-configured solutions and supports the go-to-market and the go-live for these solutions. She also leads large projects in consolidation, disclosure and regulatory reporting.
Julieann M. Thurlow is president and CEO of Reading Cooperative Bank in Massachusetts and vice chair of the American Bankers Association.
Greg Woolf is the chief executive of FiVerity.
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:
