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.
David M. Toll is the publisher and editor of the weekly newsletter Private Equity Career News.
Michelle Krause is a senior managing director of Accenture and leader of the firm’s North America Insurance Client Service Group. She is responsible for helping insurers develop, manage and deploy large scale technology systems, business processes and strategies. In her career with Accenture, which spans almost 20 years, Krause has worked with many of the top insurance carriers in the industry, assisting them in their efforts to become high-performance businesses. Her expertise lies in insurance processes, product and policy management, claims management and underwriting, focused primarily on the areas of financial services insurance, and property and casualty insurance. As Client Service Group leader, Krause and her teams develop strategies to help insurers address capacity and infrastructure constraints, streamline and standardize processes, and develop custom-built policy administration platforms.
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:
