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.
Mark McDonald is president of Visual Lease and CoStar Real Estate Manager (formerly Virtual Premise), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CoStar Group. McDonald joined Virtual Premise as a member of the professional services team during the company's start-up phase. He also served as the leader of the field sales team during a multi-year period of hyper-growth, worked to establish implementation partnerships with the Big Four, and has guided numerous Fortune 500 companies through the digital transformation of their real estate portfolios and lease accounting compliance. He currently leads CoStar Real Estate Manager's overall strategy development and operations.
Csaba Farkas joined TMF Group in March 2021 as the head of accounting and tax consultancy services. He is an ACCA-qualified professional with several years of experience at professional services organizations in Budapest and London. He has a strong technical accounting background and, having worked as an interim financial controller in multiple engagements, has significant experience in implementing new enterprise resource planning systems in finance functions and in optimizing finance processes.
Scott Susin is the founder of the Center for Mortgage Access. Previously, he served as an economist at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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:
