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Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Significant Accounting Policies (Policy) | 9 Months Ended
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Feb. 28, 2021
Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Description of Business | Description of business: Paychex, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company” or “Paychex”) is a leading provider of integrated human capital management (“HCM”) solutions for human resources (“HR”), payroll, benefits, and insurance services for small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States (“U.S.”). The Company also has operations in Europe. Paychex, a Delaware corporation formed in 1979, reports as one segment.
Basis of Presentation | Basis of presentation: The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statement presentation. The consolidated financial statements include the consolidated accounts of the Company with all intercompany transactions eliminated. Certain disclosures are reported as zero balances due to rounding. In the opinion of management, the information furnished herein reflects all adjustments (consisting of items of a normal recurring nature), which are necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim period. These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements and related Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements presented in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2020 (“fiscal 2020”). Operating results and cash flows for the nine months ended February 28, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2021 (“fiscal 2021”).
Reclassifications | Reclassifications: Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. These reclassifications had no effect on reported consolidated earnings.
Restricted Cash and Restricted Cash Equivalents | Restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents: Restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents are recorded at fair value, and consist of cash and cash equivalents, primarily money market securities, included in funds held for clients and cash that is restricted in use for payment of workers’ compensation claims.
Accounts Receivable, Net of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts | Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts: Accounts receivable balances are shown on the Consolidated Balance Sheets net of the allowance for doubtful accounts of $20.3 million and $12.5 million as of February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2020, respectively. These balances include trade receivables for services provided to clients and purchased receivables related to payroll funding arrangements with clients in the temporary staffing industry. Trade receivables were $99.3 million and $84.7 million as of February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2020, respectively. Purchased receivables were $615.8 million and $311.9 million as of February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2020, respectively. The Company is exposed to credit losses through the sale of services, payment of client obligations, and collection of purchased receivables. To mitigate this credit risk, the Company has multiple programs in place to assess and continuously monitor each client’s ability to pay for these products and services. Credit monitoring programs include, but are not limited to, new client credit reviews, establishing appropriate credit limits, monitoring of credit distressed clients, and early electronic wire and collection procedures. The Company also considers contract terms and conditions, client business type or strategy and may require collateralized asset support or prepayment to mitigate credit risk. Accounts receivable are written off and charged against the allowance for doubtful accounts when the Company has exhausted all collection efforts without success. The Company estimates its allowance for credit losses based on historical loss activity adjusted for current economic conditions and reasonable and supportable forecast factors, when applicable. The provision for the allowance for doubtful accounts and accounts written off were not material for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2021 and February 29, 2020. No single client accounted for 10% or more of the Company’s revenue for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2021 or February 29, 2020. As of February 28, 2021, one client within purchased receivables represented approximately 13% of total consolidated accounts receivable and unbilled receivables. No single client accounted for 10% or more of total consolidated accounts receivable and unbilled receivables as of May 31, 2020.
Professional Employer Organization ("PEO") Unbilled Receivables, Net of Advance Collections | Professional Employer Organization (“PEO”) unbilled receivables, net of advance collections: PEO unbilled receivables, including estimated revenues, offset by advance collections from clients, are recorded as PEO unbilled receivables, net of advance collections on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of February 28, 2021 and May 31, 2020, advance collections were $3.8 million and $6.1 million, respectively.
PEO Insurance Reserves | PEO insurance reserves: As part of the PEO solution, the Company offers workers’ compensation insurance and health insurance to clients for the benefit of client employees. Workers’ compensation insurance is primarily provided under fully insured high deductible workers’ compensation insurance policies. Workers’ compensation insurance reserves are established to provide for the estimated costs of paying claims up to per occurrence liability limits. These reserves also include estimates of certain expenses associated with processing and settling these claims. In establishing the PEO workers’ compensation insurance reserves, the Company uses an independent actuarial estimate of undiscounted future cash payments that would be made to settle claims. The evaluation, review, and determination of estimated ultimate losses by the Company’s actuary are based on accepted actuarial methods and assumptions. The estimated ultimate losses are primarily based upon estimated loss development factors, and other factors such as the nature of employees’ job responsibilities, the historical frequency and severity of workers’ compensation claims, and an estimate of future cost trends. Each reporting period, changes in actuarial assumptions resulting from changes in actual claims experience and other trends are incorporated into our workers’ compensation claims cost estimates. The Company’s maximum individual claims liability under its PEO workers’ compensation insurance policies was $1.0 million for both fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020. With respect to the PEO health insurance, the Company offers various health insurance plans that take the form of either fully insured guaranteed cost plans or fully insured insurance arrangements where the Company retains risk. A liability reserve for insurance arrangements where the Company retains risk is established to provide for the payment of claims in accordance with the Company’s service contract with the carrier. The claims liability includes estimates for reported losses, plus amounts for those claims incurred but not reported, and estimates of certain expenses associated with processing and settling the claims. The Company’s maximum individual claims liability was $0.3 million under its policies during both fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020. Estimating the ultimate cost of future claims is an uncertain and complex process based upon historical loss experience and independent actuarial loss projections, and is subject to change due to multiple factors, including economic trends, changes in legal liability law, and damage awards, all of which could materially impact the reserves as reported in the consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, final claim settlements may vary from the present estimates, particularly with workers’ compensation insurance where those payments may not occur until well into the future. The Company regularly reviews the adequacy of its estimated insurance reserves. Adjustments to previously established reserves are reflected in the results of operations for the period in which the adjustment is identified. Such adjustments could be significant, reflecting any combination of new and adverse or favorable trends.
Stock-Based Compensation Costs | Stock-based compensation costs: The Company has issued stock-based awards to employees and members of its Board of Directors (the “Board”) consisting of stock options, restricted stock units, and restricted stock awards. The Company accounts for all stock-based awards to employees and members of the Board as compensation costs in the consolidated financial statements based on their fair values measured as of the date of grant. These costs are recognized over the requisite service period. Stock-based compensation costs recognized were $12.6 million and $38.1 million for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2021, respectively, as compared with $12.7 million and $36.5 million for the three and nine months ended February 29, 2020, respectively. The methods and assumptions used in the determination of the fair value of stock-based awards are consistent with those described in the Company’s Form 10-K for fiscal 2020.
Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Pronouncements | Recently adopted accounting pronouncements: In June 2020, the Company adopted the following Accounting Standards Updates (“ASUs”), none of which had a material impact on its consolidated financial statements: ASU No. 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting;” ASU No. 2019-08, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718) and Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Codification Improvements – Share-Based Consideration Payable to a Customer;” ASU No. 2019-04, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments;” ASU No. 2018-18, “Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808): Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606;” ASU No. 2018-15, “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract (a consensus of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Emerging Issues Task Force);” ASU No. 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement;” ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairments;” and, ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments,” as amended by subsequent ASUs on the topic, using a modified retrospective transition method. Recently issued accounting pronouncements: In October 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-08, “Codification Improvements to Subtopic 310-20, Receivables – Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs.” The amendments in ASU No. 2020-08 clarify that an entity should reevaluate whether a callable debt security is within the scope of the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) paragraph 310-20-35-33 for each reporting period. This guidance is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and for interim periods within those fiscal years. This guidance is applicable to the Company’s fiscal year beginning June 1, 2021. The adoption of this guidance will not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes.” ASU No. 2019-12 is intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes, eliminates certain exceptions to the general principles in the ASC Topic 740 related to intra-period tax allocation, simplifies when companies recognize deferred taxes in an interim period, and clarifies certain aspects of the current guidance to promote consistent application. This guidance is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and for interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. This guidance is applicable to the Company’s fiscal year beginning June 1, 2021. The adoption of this guidance will not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Other recent authoritative guidance issued by the FASB (including technical corrections to the FASB ASC), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Securities and Exchange Commission during the nine months ended February 28, 2021 did not, or are not expected to, have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

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