Roadrunner Co. is building a waste landfill in the desert near Phoenix, AZ. Roadrunner estimates that this landfill will be in operation for 4 years, will cost $175,000,000 to build, and will generate $600 million in revenues during its useful life. Federal law requires that Roadrunner decommission and decontaminate the site at the end of its useful life. A team of engineers has studied the decontamination procedure and has estimated that Roadrunner will have to spend $20,000,000 on the decommissioning process when the landfill is shut down four years from now. Roadrunner's credit-adjusted risk-free rate of interest is 10%; the PV factor for 4 periods at 10% equals 0.683013.

Required:

In accordance with U.S. GAAP, how should Roadrunner Co. account for the costs associated with the decommissioning process? Prepare the journal entry required and prepare an amortization table for the asset retirement obligation.

How are the costs associated with the decommissioning process reflected on the income statement? Explain how this accounting treatment improves the matching process.