Almost half of the companies that responded to a survey said they have reviewed expenses for business trips by employees in the past three years, with about 40 percent reducing or abolishing daily allowances, according to a Tokyo-based private research institute on labor and industry.

According to the survey conducted last fall by the Sanro Research Institute, 47.1 percent of 223 corporate respondents said they have reviewed the expenses in the past three years, up 7.8 percentage points from the previous survey conducted in 2002.

Among those companies, 33.3 percent said they have reduced daily allowances for one-day business trips and 8.6 percent have abolished such funds, while 10.5 percent said they have increased allowances.

Even for trips requiring overnight stays, many companies have reduced funds for daily allowances and accommodations charges.

For overseas business trips, 69.7 percent of the companies said they provide allowances to employees to prepare for such trips, including passport acquisition fees.

More than 90 percent of companies surveyed in the early 1990s used to give employees such allowances for overseas business trips, according to the institute.