---
title: Use business services with expenses
description: Manage the relationships between business services and their expenses with allocation units and cost centers.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-business-management/cost-management/c\_UseBusinessServicesWithExpenses.html
release: australia
product: Cost Management
classification: cost-management
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Cost Management, Strategic Portfolio Management]
---

# Use business services with expenses

Manage the relationships between business services and their expenses with allocation units and cost centers.

-   **[Define a cost center](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-business-management/cost-management/t_DefineACostCenter.md)**  
Cost centers are a commonly used reference between financial systems and IT. Cost center records represent business entities, and have a related list of CI Cost Center Relationships that measure the cost center's consumption of business services.
-   **[Default allocation rule](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-business-management/cost-management/r_DefaultAllocationRule.md)**  
For every expense line generated for a business service, the default allocation rule Process Svc-CC Relationships will attempt to process the expense and create allocations for each cost center that is consuming the service.
-   **[Define an allocation unit](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-business-management/cost-management/t_DefineAnAllocationUnit.md)**  
Allocation unit records define the capacity and usage of a business service.

**Parent Topic:**[Cost Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-business-management/cost-management/r_CostManagement.md)