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.
Thomas Deas served as chair of the National Association of Corporate Treasurers from 2016 to 2022, and for 15 years, as the vice president and treasurer of FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC), a leading agricultural sciences company.
Adam Rakich has spent most of his career working with the office of finance to automate their reporting, streamline their budgeting, accelerate their close, enhance their core finance processes and integrate their systems, and heads up consulting at Northexis, a boutique performance management consultancy. Based in the UK, he is also the author of The Business User's Guide to Data Integration, a guide for non-technical professionals on how to approach automating data flows between systems.
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:
