text: **REPUBLIC SERVICES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES**
  
  **NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
  **(All tables in millions, except per share data)**
  
  **1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION**
  
  The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Republic Services, Inc. (a 
  Delaware corporation) and its subsidiaries (the ""Company''). The Company provides non-hazardous solid 
  waste collection and disposal services in the United States. All intercompany transactions have been 
  eliminated in consolidation. 
  
  As of January 1, 2003, the Company adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 143, 
  ""Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations'' (""SFAS 143''). SFAS 143 required the Company to change 
  the methodology it used to record Ñnal capping, closure and post-closure costs relating to its landÑlls. As of 
  January 1, 2003, the Company recorded an after-tax expense of $20.8 million, or $33.6 million on a pre-tax 
  basis, as a cumulative eÅect of a change in accounting principle resulting from the adoption of SFAS 143. In 
  addition, the Company also recorded an after-tax expense of $17.0 million, or $27.4 million on a pre-tax basis, 
  as a cumulative eÅect of a change in accounting principle for its methane gas collection systems. This change 
  in accounting for methane gas collection systems was prompted by a thorough evaluation of the Company's 
  landÑll accounting policies in connection with the adoption of SFAS 143 and is consistent with the 
  methodology used by other participants in the waste industry. 