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.
Tom Kozlik, Head of Municipal Research and Analytics, HilltopSecurities Inc.
Petar Tomov is a director in Opportune LLP’s Financial Instruments Group. Combined with his time as a manager at KPMG, he has over 10 years of experience focusing on the valuation of stock-based compensation, debt and equity instruments, contingent consideration and intangible assets. He holds a BS in Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Matt Smith is managing director in Opportune LLP’s Financial Instruments Group. He assists companies with their accounting for complex financial instruments under both U.S. GAAP and IFRS. With 15 years of client service experience at Opportune and EY, Matt has gained extensive knowledge and expertise in derivative valuation and hedge accounting, stock-based compensation, debt, and equity financing activities, embedded derivative assessments, Dodd-Frank compliance and SEC reporting. He has an undergraduate degree in accounting from Oral Roberts University and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs.
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:
