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.
Rich Paul leads Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Consumer Industry U.S. Audit & Assurance practice.
Chief Medical Officer, Grand Rounds
Craig Carpenter is the chief executive officer at X1. Craig has 20 years of experience as a CEO, COO, CRO, CMO and general counsel in the eDiscovery, compliance and cybersecurity spaces.
Prior to X1, Craig was the CEO of Fronteo (NASDAQ: FTEO), before which he was SVP of sales at Kroll Ontrack until its acquisition by the Carlyle Group. Prior to Kroll Ontrack, Craig was CMO and then COO at AccessData, before which Craig spent seven years as the VP of marketing and business development and general counsel at Recommind prior to its acquisition by Open Text (NASDAQ: OTEX). Before Recommind, Craig ran global marketing and channel teams at Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) prior to its IPO and at Mirapoint prior to its acquisition by Openwave (NASDAQ:SNCR).
Craig began his career as a practicing attorney at Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley in Silicon Valley. Craig has a JD and MBA from Santa Clara University and BAs in Political Science and History from UCLA where he played football and rowed crew.
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:
