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.
Erwann is a leader of McKinsey's North American Insurance Practice. He brings 20 years of experience defining and executing value creation strategies and at-scale impact to his clients on topics of transformation, resilience, risk management, organizational effectiveness, risk culture, behavioral economics and decision making. He is passionate about developing and applying (digital) innovations to improve business competitiveness and public sector service.
Award-winning author of seven books, he has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of the most extra-ordinary leaders of the world under 40. Before joining McKinsey, Erwann held senior positions at leading corporations, non-for-profits, international organizations, and academic institutions on several continents.
Steven J. Eller is a partner at Top 100 Firm PKF O’Connor Davies and is co-head of the state and local tax practice. He has over 30 years of professional experience assisting individuals, businesses, and estates and trusts in planning and complying with tax rules and regulations.
American Express began adopting cloud computing a couple of years ago and has leaned hard on the technology to help front-line and corporate employees work at home during the coronavirus crisis, its global head of infrastructure says.
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:
