The business sector should try to cap its social expenses to sharply reduce the amount spent on wining and dining, Jiro Ushio, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), said Tuesday.Ushio's remarks come after police arrested former executives of Nomura Securities Co. for allegedly bribing a retired Finance Ministry official who is a director of accounting at the state-run Japan Highway Public Corp. The Nomura executives allegedly spent about 2.8 million yen on entertaining the man."Whether they were spent on government officials or private corporations, I feel strongly that it is time for companies and business organizations to reconsider what the appropriate amount is for social expenses, and we must move toward reducing the (present) amount," he said. "We'd like to start discussing the issue among members of Keizai Doyukai."Ushio added that business deals must be decided based on services, costs and quality of products -- not by the amount of social expenses. "In the past two or three years, there have been growing discussions over corporate governance, and companies must try to regain people's trust," he said.
