Cost objects let you group, monitor, and manage trip costs for the same department or project. For more information, see Cost objects in travel.

You can create a cost object for a specific company or use the cost object for all companies in your account. You assign the cost object as a default cost object to specific people, and choose to make the cost object visible to everyone in the company or to be accessed by specific users.

Note: If you also plan to use the cost object for expenses and invoices, see Set up cost objects for expenses and invoices.

When creating a new cost object, you can choose where you want to use the cost object, which companies can use it, select the people who can also access the cost object when booking their trip, and select a preferred approver for trips assigned to this cost object.

Adding a new cost object for travel bookings

1. Go to Settings > Cost management > Cost objects.
2. Click Add cost object.
3. In the Name and usage: 
   • enter a clear Cost object name, such as Project X Travel Budget. 
   • select a Parent cost object (optional) if you plan to use the cost object also for expenses and invoices. This creates a hierarchical structure for determining expense or invoice approval escalation. For more information, see Cost objects on Perk.
4. Choose the applicable Companies. You can make this cost object available for all companies in the account or only specific companies.
5. In Usage, select Travel.
   
6. In Assigned people, select all the people who should use this as their default cost object. Default cost objects are automatically selected for travelers at the checkout when booking a trip.
7. In Settings, choose whether you want other people to be able to view and select the cost object by selecting Allow other people to use this cost object. If you choose everyone, anyone can search for and select the cost object during the checkout step. If you choose selected people, only the people you have selected can access and select the cost object when booking.
   
8. In Approval, select an appropriate approver for this cost object. The person selected here will approve any approval requests.
9. (Optional) Under Additional approvers, select other people who can also approve travel requests for this cost object.
   

Note: You must select a preferred approver before adding additional approvers. The preferred approver can't also be listed as an additional approver. Guest users can't be selected as approvers.

Tip: This is highly recommended in case you want to set up an approval process by cost object approver.

     10. Click Save.

If your company also uses Perk for expense and invoice processing, you can use this cost object for expenses and invoices by selecting Expenses or Invoices in field visibility. This means that if this cost object is selected in the travel booking, all travel booking expenses are automatically coded with the correct cost object for financial reviewers.

Caution: If you use an HR integration and add a new person to Perk with a cost object that doesn’t exist on the platform, a new cost object is created automatically.

Assign the cost object as a person’s default cost object

When you assign a cost object as a person’s default, the cost object is automatically selected in the checkout step when they book a trip. The person can also view other cost objects, depending on their visibility.

To assign a default cost object:

1. Go to the People page.
2. Select the person or people you want to assign the cost object to.

3. In the quick actions section, click Edit cost object.

   

4. Under Assign a cost object, select the new cost object.

   

Assigning a trip to a cost object

To assign a trip to a cost object before payment:

1. Once you’ve finished selecting your trip, click Continue.
2. On the Payment page, under Invoice to, select the company you want the trip invoiced to.
3. Under Pay with, select the payment profile you want the trip invoiced to.
4. Under Reporting, add the Cost object and values for any custom fields.
5. Click Confirm payment or Request approval.

Depending on your company settings, you may only be able to select some of the available options.

Caution: You can’t edit the cost object for a booking after the booking has been confirmed. If you use Perk to process expenses, a financial reviewer can adjust this later.

Making cost objects mandatory for all travel bookings

To make cost objects mandatory for all trips:

1. Go to Settings > Cost management > Cost objects.
2. In the top right corner, click Settings.
3. Select Make cost objects mandatory for all travel bookings.

Once enabled, all trips must have a cost object before the booking can be finalized.

Before applying this setting, make sure everyone is assigned to a cost object or select Make all cost objects visible to everyone to let them choose from any cost object.

Viewing additional approvers on the cost object list

On Settings > Cost management > Cost objects, the Additional approvers column shows who is configured for each travel cost object.

Additional approvers appear only when Travel is selected under Usage. Spend-only cost objects don't show the additional approvers section.