This case identified different accounting issue were related to the Ligand Pharmaceutical’s revenue recognition policy, sales returns, and allowances.
The main reason of its problem was because the company did not have enough historical experience to estimate its future sales returns. The second reason was to the difficulty to have significant sales and inventory data from its three wholesale.
In general, the company was recognizing its revenues as consummated sales transactions. Under this method, Ligand was reorganizing its revenue and recording its allowance accounts by the end of each accounting period for its expected sales returns. The wholesalers that were dealing with Ligand had the right to return the products that