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.
Peter Margaritis, CPA, is the director of the School of Accounting Communication Center and an instructor of professional practice at Oklahoma State University, as well as an international speaker, humorist, and the author of “Improv Is No Joke: Using Improvisation to Create Positive Results in Leadership and in Life” and “Taking The Numb Out of Numbers: Explaining and Presenting Financial Information with Confidence and Clarity.” He has a Master’s Degree in Accountancy from Case Western Reserve University and is a licensed, non-practicing, CPA in Ohio. Margaritis has worked for companies such as Price Waterhouse, Victoria's Secret Catalogue, C&S National Bank, and Ohio Dominican University, and is one of the top thought leaders at the Business Learning Institute, the learning and innovation affiliate of the Maryland Association of CPAs. He is also a member of the AICPA, the Georgia Society of CPAs, the Maryland Association of CPAs, the Oklahoma Society of CPAs, and the National Speakers Association. He is also the past chairman of the Ohio Society of CPAs Executive Board and a former delegate to the AICPA Governing Council.
Mark Neeb is CEO of ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.
Suresh Sambandam is the chief executive officer at KiSSFLOW, a disruptive, SaaS-based enterprise-level workflow and business process automation platform with more than 10,000 customers across 120 countries. He is an expert and renowned entrepreneur on a mission to democratize cutting-edge technologies and help enterprises leverage automation.
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:
