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.
Joe Crawford is Director of Professional Services at Glassbox, where he helps banks and financial institutions unlock insights from customer engagement data. He brings over 20 years of experience in enterprise monitoring, digital analytics, and performance engineering from leadership roles at Citi, Morgan Stanley, and AT&T. Joe specializes in applying behavioral data and AI to improve digital experiences and reduce operational risk.
Chintan Shah leads Bloomberg's product strategy for buyside Treasury, Asset-Liability Management (ALM), and Finance solutions, with a focus on Insurance General Accounts, Pension Funds, and institutional cash management. With over 16 years of capital markets and investment management experience, Chintan brings deep expertise in serving the needs of asset owners and asset managers.
He has spent the past eight years at Bloomberg, driving product innovation and client engagement in the ALM and Investment risk space. Prior to Bloomberg, he was part of the Overlays and ALM team at AIG Investments, where he worked on optimizing balance sheet and liability-driven investment strategies. Chintan began his career in interest rate derivatives trading and risk management, holding roles at Barclays and Deutsche Bank.
James Glover is principal, finance & enterprise, at Deloitte.
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:
