08 Jan Top 10 craziest business expenses of 2013
Originally posted on https://eba.benefitnews.com
What’s the strangest expense your organization has charged to the company credit card? These 10 employers have expensed some pricey and downright unusual items to entertain clients and travel in style. Here are the 10 most interesting responses from over 60,000 business travelers surveyed by online expense management provider, Certify.
10. $500 in Taffy apples
One banking company definitely has a sweet tooth; it expensed $500 worth of taffy apples last year, according to its executive vice president.
9. Dirty dancing
This expense was labeled as ‘entertainment’ but as the accounting firm admits, it was more accurately described as “table dancing.”
8. Grown-up bounce house
An indoor trampoline entertained employees and clients at an expensed event.
7. Sports coach
A financial adviser expensed “golf swing analysis” for his client.
6. 200 used hubcaps
For this unusual tradeshow booth, “we purchased 200 used hubcaps [for a] display revolving around a celebrity chef with a huge ego,” writes a director of treasury about the company’s most bizarre expensed item.
5. Autographs
Purchasing autographed basketballs are considered a business expense at one organization, where a director of finance expensed nine official NBA basketballs signed by Magic Johnson.
4. Human bones
“Purchasing a human skull for a medical experiment, I would say this classifies as an out-of-ordinary expense,” explains a finance manager for an antique business.
3. Hair salon highlights
Employers don’t just make up appearances, they go above and beyond for a client. “Hair salon highlights for a client [was] one of the craziest expenses I have had to approve,” wrote a senior payroll manager at a technology company.
2. Caribbean fishing trip
One finance director expensed a luxury fishing trip with clients. The week-long deep sea fishing adventure in the Bahamas cost $91,237.
1. 3-day apartment lease
One creative business traveler to Hong Kong didn’t fret when every hotel room was booked due to the Consumer Electronics Show. “I had to rent an apartment and then cancel the lease,” explains a vice president of business development at a telecommunications company.