Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Significant Accounting Policies (Policy) |
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Aug. 31, 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 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. Refer to Note K Segment Reporting for additional information on the Company's segment results. |
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| 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, 2025 (“fiscal 2025”). Operating results and cash flows for the three months ended August 31, 2025 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2026 (“fiscal 2026”). |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 as follows:
Trade receivables are for services provided to clients in the normal course of business and purchased receivables are acquired from the Company's clients under non-recourse arrangements.
The Company is exposed to credit losses through the sale of its solutions and support 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 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 credit losses 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.
Allowance for credit losses activity related to accounts receivables are as follows:
No single client had a material impact on total accounts receivable as of August 31, 2025 and May 31, 2025 or service revenue and results of operations for the three months ended August 31, 2025 and August 31, 2024. |
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| 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 August 31, 2025 and May 31, 2025, advance collections were $2.8 million and $1.8 million, respectively. |
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| 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 2026 and fiscal 2025, 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, 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 was $0.5 million under its policies during both fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2025.
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. |
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| 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 $26.8 million for the three months ended August 31, 2025, compared with $16.5 million for the three months ended August 31, 2024. |
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| Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Pronouncements |
Recently adopted accounting pronouncements: There were no recently adopted accounting pronouncements during the three months ended August 31, 2025 that had a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements or disclosures.
Recently issued accounting pronouncements: In December 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2026, 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 No. 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.
In July 2025, the FASB issued ASU No. 2025-05 “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses for Accounts Receivable and Contract Assets,” which introduces a practical expedient for the application of the current expected credit loss model to current accounts receivable and contract assets. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2025, and interim periods within those annual reporting periods. This ASU is applicable to the Company’s fiscal year beginning June 1, 2026, with early application permitted. The transition method is prospective. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its consolidated financial statements and disclosures.
In September 2025, the FASB issued ASU No. 2025-06 “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software.” This ASU updates the cost capitalization threshold for internal-use software development costs by removing all references to software project development stages and providing new guidance on how to evaluate whether the probable-to-complete recognition threshold has been met. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2027, and interim periods within those annual reporting periods. This ASU is applicable to the Company’s fiscal year beginning June 1, 2028, with early application permitted. The transition method may be prospective, modified, or retrospective. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its consolidated financial statements and disclosures. |
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