Waste Management’s scheme for overstating earnings was simple. The company deferred recognizing normal operating expenditures as expenses until future periods. These improper deferrals were accomplished in a number of different ways, many of which involved improper accounting for long-term assets. For example, Waste Management incurred costs in buying and developing land to be used as landfills (i.e., garbage dumps). Capitalizing these costs—treating them as long-term assets—was proper accounting. However, in certain cases, the company was not able to secure the necessary governmental permits and approvals to use the purchased land as intended. In these cases, the costs that had been capitalized and reported as landfills in the balance sheet should have been expensed immediately, thereby reducing net income for the year in which the company’s failure to obtain government permits and approvals occurred.