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.
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Charles E. Davis, PhD, CPA, CMA, CGMA, is a Professor of Accounting at Baylor University. He has published numerous academic and practitioner articles, as well as a managerial accounting textbook now in its 4thedition. He currently serves on the Strategic Finance Editorial Review Board and is a past member of the AICPA’s Accounting Education Executive Committee and Precertification Education Executive Committee. Timothy Lindquist, PhD, is the PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor of Accounting at the University of Northern Iowa. Having previously served on the editorial board of Issues in Accounting Education, he has published numerous research articles in a mix of high-level academic journals and high-impact practitioner journals. His experience in higher education spans nearly 40 years. Joseph Ugrin PhD, CPA, is the Deloitte Professor of Accounting and head of the Department of Accounting at the University of Northern Iowa. He has published nearly two dozen research articles and serves as the associate editor for Advances in Accounting and on the editorial boards for the Journal of Information Systems and the Accounting Educators Journal. He is a CPA and the past chair of the AICPA’s Precertification Education Executive Committee.
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:
