Revenue

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Revenue From Contract With Customer [Abstract]

Revenue

3.REVENUE

Revenues are recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our clients in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to for those goods or services. Substantially all of our revenues are comprised of revenue from contracts with clients. Sales taxes and other applicable taxes are excluded from revenues.

Recurring Revenues

Recurring revenues are derived primarily from our talent acquisition, time and labor management, payroll, talent management and HR management applications as well as fees charged for form filings and delivery of client payroll checks and reports. Talent acquisition includes our Applicant Tracking, Candidate Tracker, Enhanced Background Checks®, Onboarding, E-Verify® and Tax Credit Services applications. Time and labor management includes Time and Attendance, Scheduling/Schedule exchange, Time-Off Requests, Labor Allocation, Labor Management Reports/Push Reporting®, Geofencing/Geotracking and Microfence™ tools and applications. Payroll includes Beti®, Payroll and Tax Management, Paycom Pay®, Expense Management, Mileage Tracker/FAVR, Garnishment Administration and GL Concierge applications. Talent management includes our Employee Self-Service®, Compensation Budgeting, Performance Management, Position Management, My Analytics and Paycom Learning and Content Subscriptions applications. HR management includes our Manager on-the-Go®, Direct Data Exchange®, Ask Here, Documents and Checklists, Government and Compliance, Benefits Administration/Benefits to Carrier, Benefit Enrollment Service, COBRA Administration, Personnel Action Forms and Performance Discussion Forms, Surveys, Enhanced ACA and Clue™ applications.

The performance obligations related to recurring revenues are satisfied during each client’s payroll period, with the agreed-upon fee being charged and collected as part of our processing of the client’s payroll. Recurring revenues are recognized at the conclusion of processing of each client’s payroll period, when each respective payroll client is billed. Collectability is reasonably assured as the fees are collected through an automated clearing house as part of the client’s payroll cycle or through direct wire transfer, which minimizes the default risk.

The contract period for substantially all contracts associated with these revenues is one month due to the fact that both we and the client have the unilateral right to terminate a wholly unperformed contract without compensating the other party by providing 30 days’ notice of termination. Our payroll application is the foundation of our solution, and all of our clients are required to utilize this application in order to access our other applications. For clients who purchase multiple applications, due to the short-term nature of our contracts, we do not believe it is meaningful to separately assess and identify whether or not each application potentially represents its own, individual, performance obligation as the revenue generated from each application is recognized within the same month as the revenue from the core payroll application. Similarly, we do not believe it is meaningful to individually determine the standalone selling price for each application. We consider the total price charged to a client in a given period to be indicative of the standalone selling price, as the total amount charged is within a reasonable range of prices typically charged for our goods and services for comparable classes of client groups, which we periodically assess for price adjustments.

Implementation and Other Revenues

Implementation and other revenues consist of nonrefundable upfront conversion fees which are charged to new clients to offset the expense of new client set-up as well as revenues from the sale of time clocks as part of our Time and Attendance application. Although these revenues are related to our recurring revenues, they represent distinct performance obligations.

Implementation activities primarily represent administrative activities that allow us to fulfill future performance obligations for our clients and do not represent services transferred to the client. However, the nonrefundable upfront fee charged to our clients results in an implied performance obligation in the form of a material right to the client related to the client’s option to renew at the end of each 30-day contract period. Further, given that all other services within the contract are sold at a total price indicative of the standalone selling price, coupled with the fact that the upfront fees are consistent with upfront fees charged in similar contracts that we have with clients, the standalone selling price of the client’s option to renew the contract approximates the dollar amount of the nonrefundable upfront fee. The nonrefundable upfront fee is typically included on the client’s first invoice, and is deferred and recognized ratably over the estimated renewal period (i.e., ten-year estimated client life).

Revenues from the sale of time clocks are recognized when control is transferred to the client upon delivery of the product. We estimate the standalone selling price for the time clocks by maximizing the use of observable inputs such as our specific pricing practices for time clocks.

Contract Balances

The timing of revenue recognition for recurring services is consistent with the invoicing of clients as they both occur during the respective client payroll period for which the services are provided. Therefore, we do not recognize a contract asset or liability resulting from the timing of revenue recognition and invoicing.

Changes in deferred revenue related to material right performance obligations as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 were as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2022			2021			2022			2021
Balance, beginning of period	$	108,880		$	92,458		$	101,426		$	86,826
Deferral of revenue		7,109			10,573			31,723			26,071
Recognition of unearned revenue		(1,978	)		(5,154	)		(19,138	)		(15,020	)
Balance, end of period	$	114,011		$	97,877		$	114,011		$	97,877

We expect to recognize $7.7 million of deferred revenue related to material right performance obligations in the remainder of 2022, $17.7 million of such deferred revenue in 2023, and $88.6 million of such deferred revenue thereafter.

Assets Recognized from the Costs to Obtain and Costs to Fulfill Revenue Contracts

We recognize an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a client if we expect the amortization period to be longer than one year. We also recognize an asset for the costs to fulfill a contract with a client if such costs are specifically identifiable, generate or enhance resources used to satisfy future performance obligations, and are expected to be recovered. We have determined that substantially all costs related to implementation activities are administrative in nature and also meet the capitalization criteria under ASC 340-40. These capitalized costs to fulfill principally relate to upfront direct costs that are expected to be recovered through margin and that enhance our ability to satisfy future performance obligations.

The assets related to both costs to obtain, and costs to fulfill, contracts with clients are accounted for utilizing a portfolio approach, and are capitalized and amortized ratably over the expected period of benefit, which we have determined to be the estimated client relationship of ten years. The expected period of benefit has been determined to be the estimated life of the client relationship primarily because we incur no new costs to obtain, or costs to fulfill, a contract upon renewal of such contract. Additional commission costs may be incurred when an existing client purchases additional applications; however, these commission costs relate solely to the additional applications purchased and are not related to contract renewal. Furthermore, additional fulfillment costs associated with existing clients purchasing additional applications are minimized by our seamless single-database platform. These assets are presented as deferred contract costs in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Amortization expense related to costs to obtain and costs to fulfill a contract are included in the “sales and marketing” and “general and administrative” line items in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

The following tables present the asset balances and related amortization expense for these contract costs:

	As of and for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2022
	Beginning		Capitalization					Ending
	Balance		of Costs		Amortization			Balance
Costs to obtain a contract	$	295,986	$	21,663	$	(11,530	)	$	306,119
Costs to fulfill a contract	$	302,019	$	30,195	$	(10,559	)	$	321,655
	As of and for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2021
	Beginning		Capitalization					Ending
	Balance		of Costs		Amortization			Balance
Costs to obtain a contract	$	248,908	$	16,648	$	(9,469	)	$	256,087
Costs to fulfill a contract	$	229,512	$	24,652	$	(7,931	)	$	246,233
	As of and for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022
	Beginning		Capitalization					Ending
	Balance		of Costs		Amortization			Balance
Costs to obtain a contract	$	272,919	$	66,544	$	(33,344	)	$	306,119
Costs to fulfill a contract	$	265,657	$	85,644	$	(29,646	)	$	321,655
	As of and for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021
	Beginning		Capitalization					Ending
	Balance		of Costs		Amortization			Balance
Costs to obtain a contract	$	232,583	$	50,890	$	(27,386	)	$	256,087
Costs to fulfill a contract	$	199,593	$	68,764	$	(22,124	)	$	246,233