For something as routine as a business expense, some people have wild definitions of what qualifies as acceptable. Sure, there are cases when workers submit receipts for legitimate hardships and needs, but there are other times when outlandish claims sneak through the system.
As part of the data gathering for our annual Travel & Expense Trends Report, Certify asks survey participants for the craziest work from home expenses they’ve submitted or reviewed. One thing’s for sure, being stuck at home hasn’t reduced the volume of legendary responses. Let’s start with our favorites that never had a chance.
Denied. Denied. Denied.
You can’t read this list without envisioning a manager grinning (or shaking their
head in disbelief) as they click the reject button. But you have to applaud the
submitters’ audacity.
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Under the expense category Repairs and Maintenance, someone submitted a $7,600 receipt for their facelift procedure. At least they got the expense category correct?
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It must have taken a lot of liquid courage to submit a $389 case of wine for online networking events. Shouldn’t networking be less stressful in pajamas?
Policy exists for a reason.
As funny as they are, examples like the ones above make a strong argument for
having a clear, reasonable, and easily enforced T&E policy to control
spending. With business agility directly linked to business continuity, having
a system that can adapt as needed only strengthens your position.
Yet, as discovered in our 2019 T&E Trends Report, only 27% of the
organizations surveyed had implemented systems that automatically flags
out-of-policy expenses. How much time and effort are the other 73% wasting to
review if facelifts count as maintenance expenses?
Approved (amazingly).
If you thought the list of denied expenses sounded crazy, here are our favorites
that were surprisingly reimbursed.
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An employee’s manager approved a dog crate to stop Spot from Zoom-bombing their video conferences.
Total reimbursed = $79 -
Many are feeling the fiscal pinch from the pandemic, but that didn’t stop one manager from approving an order of live lobsters for a monitoring and evaluation visit.
Total reimbursed = $339 -
Making sure they fit some fitness into their work from home routine, an employee got the organization to partially cover a new Peleton bike.
Total reimbursed = $1,895
We can’t wait to read the stories from this year’s survey. Look for what 2021
brings. In the meantime, enjoy our previous best-of lists from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and 2019’s look back at five years of Craziest Expenses.
To learn how Certify can make your expense process an experience every employee
enjoys, while staying within policy, request a demo today.