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.
Jim Perry is the director of enterprise performance management (EPM) practice strategy at Infor, a provider of business applications specialized by industry and built for the cloud. With over a dozen years of experience in strategy and corporate finance, Perry has lectured extensively on best practices in financial planning and analysis and business intelligence. He holds an MBA in Finance from Rutgers Business School, and is a registered Six-Sigma Black Belt.
Anna Solana is a Barcelona-based writer and a contributor to the IoT Solutions World Congress.
With more than 20 years experience in banking and finance Gavin brings a deep understanding of both the issues facing clients and the practical challenges involved in implementing solutions.For more than half of his career Gavin held senior leadership positions with a large regional bank, gaining experience in commercial and small business strategy, SBA lending, credit and risk management and sales.Gavin has guided organizations through strategic change initiatives and regulatory and supervisory oversight issues. During his banking tenure Gavin had responsibility for implementing a range of Experian solutions and has spoken at Experian’s annual Vision Conference.Previously Gavin worked in the business leasing, agricultural and construction equipment sectors in sales and credit management roles.
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:
