Asset Retirement Obligation
Installation of a fixed asset often requires significant modification to the landscape in which the asset is erected. Such modifications affect the communities in which the assets are installed. It is the responsibility of the companies to reverse those modifications and protect the communities from their hazardous effects when the asset runs out of its useful life. Decommissioning cost (also known as asset retirement obligation) is the cost incurred by companies in reversing the modifications made to landscape when a fixed asset is used up.
An oil well offers a good example of asset that carries significant decommissioning cost. Drilling an oil well requires drilling holes in the ground in pursuit of oil. An oil well (regardless of whether it is successful or not) must be plugged when oil or gas is not being extracted from it, so as to stop any leakages of hazardous gases or fluids.
Accounting for asset retirement obligations
Asset retirement obligation/decommissioning cost broadly refers to the amount that a company expects to incur in disposing of the asset and reversing modifications made to the installation site. Accounting standards require the company to include the present value of the expected (face value of) future decommissioning cost in the total acquisition cost of the asset. This involve making the following journal entry: