Cost centers API

Use the cost centers API to create, update, archive, and assign users to cost centers in your Perk organization.

Cost centers represent parts of your organization — departments, teams, or projects — and determine where costs are allocated for travel bookings, expenses, and invoices. In the Perk UI, these are called cost objects; the API uses the term cost centers.

For a full explanation of how cost objects work in Perk, see Cost objects on Perk.

With the cost centers API, you can:

• Create cost centers
• Update cost centers
• Archive cost centers
• Assign users to cost centers

When to use this

Use the cost centers API when you need to automate cost center management — for example, as part of an HR or ERP sync that keeps your organization structure in Perk up to date. For one-off changes, use the Perk UI instead.

Prerequisites

• A Perk account admin or developer role
• A Perk API key
• An organization on a Pro plan or above

Key concepts

• Cost center / cost object: The API calls these cost centers; the Perk UI calls them cost objects. They represent organizational units to which travel, expense, and invoice costs are allocated. Each user has one default cost center. See Cost objects on Perk.
• Approver: A user assigned to a cost center who approves costs associated with it.
• Delegate: A user who covers the approver's responsibilities temporarily. Set an optional delegate_expiry date to limit the delegation period.
• ERP code (erp_code): An identifier that links a cost center to a corresponding record in an external ERP or finance system.