Cost objects are used to allocate and track costs coming through Perk. They can represent different parts of a business, such as departments, teams, projects, or cost centers, depending on how they're set up and what needs to be reported.

Cost objects can be:

• Hierarchical - parent-child relationship.
• Created at the company or account level.
• Used for travel, expenses, and invoices, or restricted to a specific usage.
• Used for approvals.
• Accessed by or hidden from employees.

On Perk, you can create cost objects manually, import them using a CSV file or an integration with a third-party system such as an HR system, ERP, or finance and accounting system.

Caution: Only one source system can be used to synchronize cost objects. For example, if you import cost objects from an HR system, you can’t import them with an ERP system.

Once created, cost objects can’t be deleted, they can only be archived. This ensures traceability and maintains consistent reporting. A cost object can be used for travel management, expense processing, and invoice processing.

Tip: For greater flexibility for companies, cost objects on Perk replace cost centers from TravelPerk. 

If needed, you can now use a cost object in only one company and create cost objects exclusively for travel, expense, or invoice. 

Cost objects are accessible by other people, even if it's not their default one.

Hierarchical cost objects 

Cost objects can have a parent-child relationship. This determines how the approval is handled in those cost objects. When the expense/invoice exceeds a certain threshold, it's automatically escalated to the parent cost object approver. 

You can set up to five hierarchical levels in Perk. See Cost object approval strategies.

Note: You can only set up hierarchical cost objects for expenses and invoices. Travel-only cost objects can’t be configured with a hierarchical structure, since approval is determined by travel approval processes.

Cost objects by company and people

Cost objects are usually created for a specific company, but you can choose to create cost objects that are shared across all companies in the account. In this case, the cost object has the same configuration for all companies.

Caution: If you need to define separate ERP IDs for exporting data separately to your finance and accounting system, you must only select one company when creating the cost object.

Assigning cost objects to people

When you add people to Perk, you assign a default cost object to which all travel bookings and expenses are assigned. 

Only people with the cost object selected as the default can access and select it during travel booking checkout, for expenses, and invoices. Other people can’t access or select it. 

For example, the cost object does not appear if an employee searches for it in the cost object field. Approvers and delegates always have access to the selected cost object.

You can choose to allow others to view and select cost objects when appropriate. In this case, they can choose either their own default cost object or the other cost object made available to them.

• You can assign a default cost object to an individual person in their profile. 
• You can assign a cost object to multiple people at the same time from either the cost object itself or on the People page by selecting all people and clicking Cost object.

Note: Cost object access only impacts selecting cost objects in travel, expenses, and invoices. It does not impact analytics. All cost object data is displayed in Analytics

Cost objects in travel

Cost centers are now cost objects

You can use the cost object to categorize trip expenses, regardless of whether you process your expenses and invoices in Perk or use a third-party integration. 

Cost objects are used in three ways when managing travel:

• To categorize trip expenses at the checkout on Perk: The cost object can be selected automatically for travelers using the default cost object set in their profile. Travelers can also choose another cost object.
  
  
   
• To determine travel spending allowed for travel budgets.
• To track and analyze travel spending: Account admins and analysts can track and classify travel spending by different departments. Cost objects are displayed on travel invoices so you can process the expense in your finance and accounting system. If you use Perk to process your expenses, the cost object is included on all travel expenses.
  
  

For more information, see Set up cost objects for travel costs.

Note: We’ve renamed cost centers to cost objects in Perk, and from February 1, 2026, we’ll also adjust the column name in your CSV and PDF downloads. If you use these files in an automated process, update your workflow to reflect the change in column names. 

Note: Guests can only view the cost object set for them in their profile. They can’t change the preselected cost object. Only travel managers can perform this task.

Cost objects in expenses and invoices

For expenses and invoices, cost objects are used to report costs.

Cost objects are selected when you create an expense or add an invoice in Perk. For example, when employees create an expense, they access either their default cost object, which is set in their profile by an account admin or people manager. If no default cost object is set, Perk selects the last cost object the employee selected.

For invoices, you can set a default cost object for each supplier so Perk automatically smart-codes invoices for that supplier.

Note: Perk account admins can choose not to display cost objects to employees. In this case, financial reviewers are responsible for checking and assigning cost objects as appropriate during review.

Depending on your company settings, employees can update the cost object, changing the cost allocation entirely by selecting another cost object.

In expenses, employees can add additional cost objects to an expense. This adds another row where the employee can select another cost object and adjust the percentage or amount to allocate to it. This splits the expense line item into two sub-line items, each with a single cost object assigned.

The amount allocated to each cost object must always add up to the total expense claim. If you adjust the amount or percentage of one cost object, the other cost object allocations are automatically adjusted. Similarly, the percentage breakdown must always add up to 100%. You can express percentages with up to two decimal places. For example, if you enter 33.337%, this will be rounded up to 33.34%.

Tip: If employees decide to split the expense by allocating part of the total claim amount to an additional category, the remaining amount is automatically adjusted in the cost object breakdown based on the entered percentage.

Invoice processors can accept the default cost object proposed for each invoice line item or select another one, as appropriate.

For cost objects that have been restricted to specific people, if the cost object hasn’t been selected as the default cost object for the supplier or hasn’t been selected for the line item by a person with the appropriate permissions to view it, it won't appear.

For more information, see Set up cost objects for expenses and invoices.

Using cost objects as a financial reviewer

Financial reviewers can view the cost objects assigned to expenses and invoices when reviewing documents by going to Finance > Review > Expenses and invoices. 

By default, they can only select the cost object assigned to them. If you want financial reviewers to be able to select or add other cost objects, or choose an additional category before finishing the review, you need to grant them access to those cost objects in the settings by either allowing everyone to access the cost object or selecting specific people who can access it in Cost object access:

Exporting cost objects in expenses and invoices

You can only assign one cost object per journal entry. For example, a typical journal entry for a privately paid expense might look like this:

Here, the cost object is reported for the debit amount so that you can track the expense.

You can split a cost among multiple cost centers or projects, choose different cost objects, or use other cost objects. To do this, Perk splits the line item, creating two sub-line items with a single cost object assigned to each sub-line.

For example, for an expense split across two cost objects, the journal entries might look like this:

If you also want to track multiple teams or projects, you can use custom fields to capture these additional financial dimensions. 

For example, you may want to assign an expense to a cost object, Professional Services, and also track it by customer project. To do this, you create Professional Services as the cost object. The expense is assigned to that cost object and can then include an additional custom field, Projects, with the customer’s name.

For example, for a privately paid expense that the submitter has assigned to a specific project set up as a custom field, the journal entry might look like this:

Note: If required, you can choose not to export cost objects to the third-party system.