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 currently leads Xero's US Enterprise Accounts team, where he and the team of innovators help to inspire the country's top 300 largest accounting firms along their journeys in modern cloud accounting, with a focus on consulting those firms on where they are today and how they achieve their cloud transformational journeys.
In the first eighteen years of his career, David Emmerman was a co-managing partner in the firm Emmerman, Boyle & Associates, LLC and there showcased his talent for working with small business clients and his team to develop a best in class accounting experience. His passion for technology and extensive involvement with cloud-based solutions led him to a role with Xero as a National Ambassador, where he spent his time leveraging his background to educate some of the largest accounting firms on practice management and cloud adoption topics.
Meredith has almost four decades of industry operations and technology experience spanning all lines of business and the entire insurance value chain. During her 33 years at Liberty Mutual, she was responsible for numerous digital, product, and organizational transformations. Meredith was most recently the industry go-to-market strategist at Ushur, an AI SaaS startup, driving growth and brand awareness across both the P&C and LA&H segments.
As part of the Advisory and Research team at ReSource Pro, Meredith works directly with carrier advisory clients, engages in research efforts, and supports carrier consulting projects.
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:
