..."By shelving the casino plan, MGM Mirage no longer will capitalize interest costs associated with the project, which will hurt its net earnings. Accounting standards allow companies to defer booking the interest costs on debt incurred to buy land if the company is spending development money there. Companies begin booking the interest expense once the project opens.

Capitalizing such interest benefited MGM Mirage's earnings by 5 cents per share, or between $15 million and $17 million, each quarter this year."