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.
Victoria Zhuang is the professional development reporter at Financial Planning. She has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Harvard University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School. Before joining FP, she freelanced as an arts and culture writer while working in the Boston nonprofit world for several years. She also completed a Dow Jones News Fund business reporting internship at American Banker. Victoria covers how wealth management firms maintain their competitive edge and how financial advisors can achieve excellence serving clients of all wealth levels. She is a native of New York City.
Dan Shaw is Financial Planning's wirehouse and bank channel reporter, covering the intersection of wealth management, banking and brokerages. His reporting background in regulation and disciplinary matters informs his coverage of compliance, recruiting and strategic shifts across the wealth management industry.
His reporting on advisor movement and recruiting at large financial firms earned a Folio Eddie Award.
His reporting includes:
- How headline EBITDA multiples are misleading RIA sellers
- Firms make billions from 'cash sweeps.' Could AI take that away?
- When everybody's a 'family office,' what's the term really mean?
Before joining Financial Planning, Dan served as managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Journal for seven years. He has also covered banking and local government in Indiana and spent two years on the business news desk at The China Daily in Beijing. His work has earned multiple awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for business and legal reporting.
Based in Milwaukee, Dan is also a longtime banjo player in a bluegrass band that performs across the upper Midwest.
Matt Dines is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Build Asset Management, an asset management firm specializing in strategies focused on fixed income and options. He can be reached at matt@getbuilding.com
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:
