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Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Significant Accounting Policies (Policy) | 9 Months Ended
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Feb. 28, 2025
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Description of Business | Description of business: Paychex, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company” or “Paychex”) is an industry-leading human capital management ("HCM") company delivering a full suite of technology and advisory services in human resources ("HR"), employee benefit solutions, insurance and payroll processing for small- to medium-sized businesses and their employees across the United States (“U.S.”) and parts of Europe. The Company also has operations in India. 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 ("Form 10-Q") and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all 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) 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, 2024 (“fiscal 2024”). Operating results and cash flows for the nine months ended February 28, 2025 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2025 (“fiscal 2025”).
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 to secure commitments for certain workers’ compensation insurance policies.
Accounts Receivable, Net of Allowance for Credit Losses | Accounts receivable, net of allowance for credit losses: Accounts receivable balances are shown on the Consolidated Balance Sheets net of the allowance for credit losses of $23.8 million and $21.3 million as of February 28, 2025 and May 31, 2024, respectively. These balances include trade receivables for services provided to clients and receivables purchased from the Company's clients under non-recourse arrangements. Trade receivables were $170.5 million and $141.3 million as of February 28, 2025 and May 31, 2024, respectively. Purchased receivables, at gross, were $1.1 billion and $939.6 million as of February 28, 2025 and May 31, 2024, 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 solutions and support. 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 credit losses when the Company has exhausted all collection efforts without success. The Company estimates its credit losses based on historical loss activity a djusted for current economic conditions and reasonable and supportable forecast factors, when applicable. The provision for the allowance for credit losses and accounts written off were no t material for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2025 and February 29, 2024. No single client had a material impact on total accounts receivable as of February 28, 2025 and May 31, 2024 or service revenue and results of operations for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2025 and February 29, 2024.
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, 2025 and May 31, 2024, advance collections were $0.6 million and $0.7 million, respectively.
PEO Insurance Reserves | PEO insurance reserves: As part of its PEO solution, the Company offers workers’ compensation insurance and health insurance coverage 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 include estimates of certain expenses associated with processing and settling claims. For fiscal 2025 and 2024, the Company has an aggregate maximum liability of $1.0 million for claims exceeding $1.0 million, and once met, the maximum individual claims liability is $1.0 million. With respect to PEO health insurance coverage, 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 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 reserve 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 is $0.5 million under its policies covering both fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024. 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. Estimating the ultimate cost of future claims is an uncertain and complex process based upon historical loss experience and accepted actuarial methods and assumptions. These reserves are 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 $17.6 million and $50.5 million for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2025, and $14.4 million and $45.1 million for the three and nine months ended February 29, 2024.
Derivative Instruments | Derivative Instruments: Interest rate swaption contracts (“Swaption Contracts”), qualifying as cash flow hedges of interest payments, are used to hedge a portion of the Company's exposure to fluctuations in benchmark interest rates related to the anticipated issuances of long-term fixed rate debt. At inception, a derivative asset is recorded for the fair value of the premiums paid. Changes to the fair value of these cash flow hedges is temporarily reported in Accumulated other comprehensive loss on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets and reclassifed to earnings as the hedged item affects earnings. Refer to Note H Supplemental Information for additional information on the Company's Swaption Contracts. We formally assess, both at inception and at least quarterly, whether the financial instruments used in hedging transactions are effective at offsetting changes in cash flows of the related underlying exposure.
Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Pronouncements | Recently adopted accounting pronouncements: There were no recently adopted accounting pronouncements during the nine months ended February 28, 2025 that had a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements or disclosures. Recently issued accounting pronouncements: In November 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2023-07 “Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures.” This ASU expands public business entities’ segment disclosures by requiring disclosure of significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker and included within each reported measure of segment profit or loss, an amount and description of its composition for other segment items, and interim disclosures of a reportable segment’s profit or loss and assets. The requirements are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, and are required to be applied retrospectively. This ASU is applicable to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, and subsequent interim periods, with early application permitted. The requirements of this ASU are disclosure-related and will not have an impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its reportable segment disclosures. In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09 “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures.” This ASU updates income tax disclosure requirements primarily by requiring specific categories and greater disaggregation within the rate reconciliation and disaggregation of income taxes paid by jurisdiction. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2024, and is applicable to the Company’s fiscal year beginning June 1, 2025, with early application permitted. The transition method is prospective with the retrospective method permitted. The requirements of this ASU are disclosure-related and will not have an impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its income tax disclosures. In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU No. 2024-03 “Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income – Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses.” ASU 2024-03 as amended by subsequent ASUs on the topic requires public business entities to disclose, for interim and annual reporting periods, additional information about certain income statement expense categories. The requirements are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and for interim periods within annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027. Entities are permitted to apply either the prospective or retrospective transition methods. This ASU is applicable to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2028, and subsequent interim periods, with early application permitted. The requirements of this ASU are disclosure-related and will not have an impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its disclosures.

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