Quarterly Consolidated Financial Information (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended			27 Months Ended
	May 31, 2014		Feb. 28, 2014		Nov. 30, 2013		Aug. 31, 2013		May 31, 2013		Feb. 28, 2013		Nov. 30, 2012		Aug. 31, 2012		May 31, 2014	May 31, 2013	May 31, 2012	May 31, 2014
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 673,977,000		$ 616,452,000		$ 634,122,000		$ 629,685,000		$ 618,352,000		$ 578,746,000		$ 588,538,000		$ 590,287,000		$ 2,554,236,000	$ 2,375,923,000	$ 2,203,847,000
Operating income	88,917,000	[1]	97,291,000	[1]	111,907,000	[1]	107,384,000	[1]	69,369,000	[1]	90,774,000	[1]	116,582,000	[1]	80,488,000	[1]	405,499,000	357,213,000	307,349,000
Net income	58,266,000		60,121,000		79,857,000		71,708,000		46,366,000		62,814,000		75,371,000		54,162,000		269,952,000	238,713,000	217,566,000
Net income attributable to Global Payments	51,625,000		55,121,000		73,897,000		64,643,000		40,805,000		58,462,000		70,183,000		46,675,000		245,286,000	216,125,000	188,161,000
Basic earnings per share attributable to Global Payments (in dollars per share)	$ 0.73		$ 0.77		$ 1.02		$ 0.88		$ 0.54		$ 0.75		$ 0.89		$ 0.59		$ 3.40	$ 2.78	$ 2.39
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Global Payments (in dollars per share)	$ 0.72		$ 0.76		$ 1.02		$ 0.87		$ 0.53		$ 0.75		$ 0.89		$ 0.59		$ 3.37	$ 2.76	$ 2.37
Insurance proceeds																				27,000,000
Processing system intrusion expense (credit)																	$ (7,000,000)	$ 36,775,000	$ 84,438,000

[1] Includes a processing system intrusion credit of $7.0 million and a charge of $36.8 million for the years ended May 31, 2014 and May 31, 2013, respectively.