This article explains how Perk decides which companies and cost objects you can select on the travel checkout page. Use it to understand why a company or cost object does or doesn't appear when you book a trip.

Note: This article covers cost object selection when you book a trip at checkout. It doesn't cover cost object selection in expenses or invoices, or other ways to book travel, such as Concierge. For definitions of the key terms used here (cost object, company scope, assignment, and access), see Cost objects in Perk.

Which companies can I invoice?

The companies you can invoice for a trip depend on 2 factors:

• The account's Flexible invoicing setting
• The role of the person booking the trip

Note: Flexible invoicing is an account-level setting that controls whether bookers can invoice only their assigned company or any company in the account. Account admins set it up.

The flexible invoicing setting

Account admins can turn on flexible invoicing in Settings > Account > Companies > Flexible invoicing by selecting All people can invoice trips to any company. When it's on, anyone, including guests, can select any company in the account when they book a trip.

Note: When flexible invoicing is on, bookers see their assigned company first in the dropdown, but they can select any company in the account.

The booker's role

Note: These rules apply only when flexible invoicing is off. When it's on, every booker, whatever their role, can invoice any company in the account.

When flexible invoicing is off, the companies you can invoice depend on the booker's role:

• Account admins can always invoice any company in the account, whatever the flexible invoicing setting.
• Travel managers can invoice their own company and the companies of the travelers they're booking for.
• All other bookers, including guests, can invoice only the company they're assigned to.

Which cost objects can I select?

The cost objects available when you book a trip depend on 3 factors:

1. The company selected at checkout
2. The person booking the trip
3. The traveler's cost object assignment and access settings

Note: Only cost objects that can be used for travel are included in this list. Cost objects set up for expenses or invoices only don't appear at checkout, even if the selected company is in scope.

Note: These factors apply in sequence, and each one can narrow the list further. A later factor can't bring back a cost object that an earlier factor already removed. For example, no role or access setting can bring back a cost object that's out of scope for the selected company.

The company selected at checkout

After the booker selects a company, Perk narrows the list of cost objects using each cost object's company scope. Only cost objects whose scope includes the selected company appear. This prevents invalid company and cost object combinations on a trip.

Bookers who can invoice more than one company can change the selected company. For who that is, see Which companies can I invoice? above. If a booker selects a cost object and then changes the company, Perk clears the cost object if the new company and cost object combination isn't valid.

The role of the person booking the trip

• Account admins can select any cost object that has the selected company in scope. They don't need access to the cost object.
• Travel managers can select any cost object that's available to the travelers they're booking for.
• Guests can't see or select a cost object at checkout. Perk pre-selects the cost object assigned to them, if they have one. Approvers can add or change one during approval.
• All other bookers can select the cost objects available to the travelers, based on the travelers' cost object assignment and access settings.

At the approval stage, approvers can change the cost object the booker selected. Account admins can select any cost object that has the selected company in scope. Other approvers can select only the cost objects available to the travelers, based on the travelers' assignment and access settings.

Note: A cost object's company scope applies to everyone at checkout, including account admins.

The traveler's cost object assignment and access settings

For bookers who aren't account admins, the list includes the traveler's assigned cost object plus any others the traveler has access to, including cost objects open to everyone. Admins can give access to individual people or to entire user groups at once. For more information on how to set up access, see the Cost object assignment and access section in Cost objects in Perk.

If a trip has multiple travelers, the list includes every traveler's assigned cost object and every cost object any traveler has access to.