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.
Ronnee Ades is assistant professor of professional practice in the finance and economics department at Rutgers Business School. She teaches Portfolio Management: Active vs. Passive and Ethics in Finance to undergraduates and MBA candidates. Prior to Rutgers, she worked for market leaders such as Dow Jones, Bloomberg, FTSE and Markit.
Akhila Chandrashekar is a qualified CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE with over 18 years of experience in audit and taxation practice in organizations such as EY & PKF and over 5 years in professional education. She currently serves as the Chief Learning Officer at Hock International, overseeing the learning and Exam Preparation strategies for the CMA, CIA and EA credentials in more than 100 countries. She is also pursuing her doctoral research at ARKA JAIN University examining the opportunities and challenges educators face in using artificial intelligence in higher education. The intersection of these experiences -accounting practice, professional education, and academic research into AI gives her the vantage point to understand the growth and development of the next generation of accounting professionals.
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:
