Note A: Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Significant Accounting Policies



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 payroll, human resource (“HR”), retirement, and insurance services for small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States (“U.S.”). The Company also has operations in Europe. Effective February 28, 2018, the Company acquired Lessor Group (“Lessor”), headquartered in Denmark and serving clients in Northern Europe.  Refer to Note C for further details. 

Paychex, a Delaware corporation formed in 1979, reports as one segment.  Substantially all of the Company’s revenue is generated within the U.S.  The Company also generates revenue within Europe, which represented less than one percent of the Company's total revenue for each of the three and nine months ended February 28, 2018 and February 28, 2017.  Long-lived assets in Europe were approximately 13% of total long-lived assets of the Company as of February 28, 2018 and were insignificant as of May 31, 2017. 



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. 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 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, 2017 (“fiscal 2017”).  Operating results and cash flows for the period ended February 28, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2018 (“fiscal 2018”).



Subsequent event: During the three months ended February 28, 2018, the Company began negotiations to terminate certain license agreements and acquire rights to certain client lists in order to resolve a contractual dispute with certain licensees.  The negotiations were completed in March 2018.  The Company recorded $32.6 million on its Consolidated Balance Sheets within other current liabilities as of February 28, 2018, and $24.7 million, net of tax, in its Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income for the three months ended February 28, 2018 related to the termination of these license agreements. In addition, the Company acquired rights to certain client lists as it relates to this agreement in March 2018 for a cost of approximately $30.0 million.



PEO insurance reserves: As part of the professional employer organization (“PEO”), the Company offers workers' compensation insurance and health insurance to client companies for the benefit of client employees. For workers' compensation insurance, reserves are established to provide for the estimated costs of paying claims up to per occurrence liability limits. The Company’s maximum individual claims liability is $1.3 million under both its fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 workers’ compensation insurance policies.



Under the minimum premium insurance plan offering within the PEO, the Company's health benefits insurance reserves are established to provide for the payment of claims liability charges in accordance with its service contract with the insurance carrier. The Company's maximum individual claims liability is $0.3 million under both its calendar 2018 and calendar 2017 minimum premium insurance plan policies.



Estimating the ultimate cost of future claims is an uncertain and complex process based upon historical loss experience and 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 insurance reserves are reflected in the results of operations for the period in which such adjustments are identified. Such insurance reserve adjustments could be significant, reflecting any combination of new and adverse or favorable trends.



Stock-based compensation costs: The Company has issued stock-based awards to employees and directors consisting of stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, performance shares, performance-based restricted stock, and performance stock options. The Company accounts for all stock-based awards to employees and directors 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 $10.3 million and $29.4 million for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2018, respectively, as compared with $8.9 million and $26.5 million for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2017, 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 fiscal 2017 Form 10-K.



Recently adopted accounting pronouncements: In January 2018, the Company early adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2017-01, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business.”  ASU No. 2017-01 clarifies the definition of a business in order to allow for the evaluation of whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions or disposals of assets or businesses.  The adoption of ASU 2017-01 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

Recently issued accounting pronouncements: In February 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2018-02, “Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.” ASU No. 2018-02 allows entities to reclassify certain stranded income tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), enacted on December 22, 2017.  The guidance also requires additional financial statement disclosures to clarify the effects of adoption.  ASU No. 2018-02 should be applied either in the period of adoption or retrospectively to each period or periods in which the effect of the change in the U.S. Federal corporate income tax rate in the Tax Act is recognized.  This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, 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, 2019.   The Company is currently evaluating the potential effects of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.



In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).” ASU No. 2016-02 improves transparency and comparability among companies by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and by disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. ASU No. 2016-02 is effective for public business entities for annual periods, including interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. This guidance is applicable to the Company's fiscal year beginning June 1, 2019. The Company is in the preliminary stages of gathering data and assessing the impact of the new lease accounting standard and the Company anticipates that the adoption of the new lease accounting standard will result in additional assets and liabilities being recorded on its Consolidated Balance Sheets.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).”  This guidance, as amended by subsequent ASUs on the topic, outlines a single comprehensive model for determining revenue recognition for contracts with customers, and supersedes current guidance on revenue recognition in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 605, “Revenue Recognition.”  Entities have the option to apply the new guidance under a full retrospective approach to each prior reporting period presented or a modified retrospective approach with a cumulative effect of initially applying the new guidance recognized at the date of initial application within the consolidated financial statements.  This guidance will be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim reporting periods. 

The Company did not elect to early-adopt the new standard, and will adopt the new standard in its fiscal year beginning June 1, 2018.  The analysis of the new standard and its impact to the Company is nearly complete as the Company is in the process of finalizing its conclusions.  Further, the Company currently anticipates applying the guidance under the full retrospective approach.    The Company’s ability to adopt using the full retrospective method is dependent on system readiness and the completion of the analysis of information necessary to restate prior period consolidated financial statements.  While the evaluation of the impact of the new revenue recognition standard on its consolidated financial statements has not yet been finalized, the Company anticipates the provisions to primarily impact the manner in which it treats certain costs to obtain contracts and costs to fulfill contracts.  Generally, in relation to these items, the new standard will result in the Company deferring additional costs on the Consolidated Balance Sheets and subsequently amortizing them to the Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income over the estimated average life of the client.  The Company does not expect the provisions of the new standard will have a material impact on the timing or the amount of revenue it recognizes. 

The Company has also not yet fully determined the impacts of the disclosure requirements under the new standard, and is evaluating the way it will disaggregate revenue into categories that show how economic factors affect the nature, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows generated from contracts with customers.  Additionally, while the Company is in the process of assessing its accounting considerations to ensure its ability to record, report, and analyze results under the new standard, it is not expecting significant changes in its business processes or systems.



Other recent authoritative guidance issued by the FASB (including technical corrections to the ASC), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) during the nine months ended February 28, 2018 did not, or are not expected to, have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.