A company decides to capitalize R&D costs for evaluating performance. The R&D is amortized linearly over three years. The R&D expense the last three years was: $210,000; $420,000; $510,000. How does last year's profit change when R&D is capitalized versus spent?
a. $120,000
b. $170,000
c. $140,000
d. $500,000
e. $70,000