Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	World Fuel Services Corporation (the “Company”) was incorporated in Florida in July 1984 and along with its consolidated subsidiaries is referred to collectively in this Quarterly Report on Form 10‑Q (“10-Q Report”) as “World Fuel,” “we,” “our” and “us.” We are a leading global fuel services company, principally engaged in the distribution of fuel and related products and services in the aviation, marine and land transportation industries. In recent years, we have expanded our product and service offerings to include energy advisory services and supply fulfillment with respect to natural gas and power and transaction and payment management solutions to commercial and industrial customers. Our intention is to become a leading global energy management company offering a full suite of energy advisory, management and fulfillment services, technology solutions as well as sustainability products and services across the energy product spectrum. We also offer payment management solutions to commercial and industrial customers, principally in the aviation, land and marine transportation industries. We will continue to focus on enhancing the portfolio of products and services we provide based on changes in customer demand, including sustainability offerings and renewable fuel products. We prepared the Consolidated Financial Statements following the requirements of the United States (“U.S.”) Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”) can be condensed or omitted.
Use of Estimates	Certain amounts in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes may not add due to rounding. All percentages have been calculated using unrounded amounts
Adoption of New Accounting Standard and Accounting Standards Issued but Not Yet Adopted	Adoption of New Accounting Standards We included below a description of recent new accounting standards or accounting standards updates that had an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. New accounting standards or accounting standards updates not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or processes. Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. In June 2016, Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13 was issued, which replaced the incurred loss impairment model with a model that reflects expected credit losses over the lifetime of the asset and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to determine credit loss estimates. The guidance in this update, including the subsequent related codification amendments, changed how entities account for credit impairment from trade and other receivables, net investments arising from sales-type and direct financing leases, debt securities, purchased-credit impaired financial assets and other instruments in addition to loans. For receivables and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value, entities are required to estimate expected credit losses. Under the expected loss model, an entity recognizes a loss upon initial recognition of the asset that reflects all future events that could lead to a loss being realized, regardless of whether it is probable that the future event will occur. The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, including the related codification amendments, in the first quarter of 2020 utilizing the modified retrospective transition method and applying the transition provisions at the effective date. The Company implemented changes to business processes and internal controls that support the new standard. As of the date of implementation on January 1, 2020, the Company recognized $11.1 million as a reduction to the opening retained earnings balance. The main drivers of the consolidated impact at transition are related to the inclusion of future economic conditions, the exclusion of freestanding credit enhancements when estimating the expected credit loss and estimating the lifetime credit losses of notes receivable. Accounting Standards Issued but Not Yet Adopted There have been no recently issued accounting standards not yet adopted by us which are expected, upon adoption, to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements or processes.
Revenue from Contracts with Customers	Our contracts with customers primarily require us to deliver fuel and fuel-related products, while other arrangements require us to complete agreed-upon services. Revenue from the sale of fuel is recognized when our customers obtain control of the fuel, which is typically upon delivery of each promised gallon or barrel to an agreed-upon delivery point. We generally recognize revenue for services provided over the contract period when services have been performed based on our right to invoice for those services. Our contracts may contain fixed or variable pricing (such as market or index-based pricing) or some combination of those. Within our land and aviation segments, contracts with customers may include multi-year sales contracts, which are priced at market-based indices and require minimum volume purchase commitments from our customers. The consideration expected from these contracts is considered variable due to the market-based pricing and the variability is not resolved until delivery is made to our customers. We have elected to apply the optional exemption from estimating and disclosing the variable consideration from our remaining performance obligations under these contracts. We also have fixed price fuel and fuel-related product sale contracts with a contract term of less than one year (typically one month). For these contracts, we apply the optional exemption to not disclose the amount of transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations. We also apply this exemption to those contracts in which the right to consideration corresponds directly with the value to the customer of the entity's performance to date. In limited cases, we may have multi-period fixed price contracts. Because our long-term supply arrangements that exceed one year are typically based on market index prices as previously discussed, the transaction price associated with remaining performance obligations under multi-year fixed price fuel sale contracts is not significant.

Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

World Fuel Services Corporation (the “Company”) was incorporated in Florida in July 1984 and along with its consolidated subsidiaries is referred to collectively in this Quarterly Report on Form 10‑Q (“10-Q Report”) as “World Fuel,” “we,” “our” and “us.”

We are a leading global fuel services company, principally engaged in the distribution of fuel and related products and services in the aviation, marine and land transportation industries. In recent years, we have expanded our product and service offerings to include energy advisory services and supply fulfillment with respect to natural gas and power and transaction and payment management solutions to commercial and industrial customers. Our intention is to become a leading global energy management company offering a full suite of energy advisory, management and fulfillment services, technology solutions as well as sustainability products and services across the energy product spectrum. We also offer payment management solutions to commercial and industrial customers, principally in the aviation, land and marine transportation industries. We will continue to focus on enhancing the portfolio of products and services we provide based on changes in customer demand, including sustainability offerings and renewable fuel products.

We prepared the Consolidated Financial Statements following the requirements of the United States (“U.S.”) Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”) can be condensed or omitted.

Use of Estimates

Certain amounts in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes may not add due to rounding. All percentages have been calculated using unrounded amounts

Adoption of New Accounting Standard and Accounting Standards Issued but Not Yet Adopted

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

We included below a description of recent new accounting standards or accounting standards updates that had an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. New accounting standards or accounting standards updates not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or processes.

Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. In June 2016, Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13 was issued, which replaced the incurred loss impairment model with a model that reflects expected credit losses over the lifetime of the asset and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to determine credit loss estimates. The guidance in this update, including the subsequent related codification amendments, changed how entities account for credit impairment from trade and other receivables, net investments arising from sales-type and direct financing leases, debt securities, purchased-credit impaired financial assets and other instruments in addition to loans. For receivables and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value, entities are required to estimate expected credit losses. Under the expected loss model, an entity recognizes a loss upon initial recognition of the asset that reflects all future events that could lead to a loss being realized, regardless of whether it is probable that the future event will occur.

The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, including the related codification amendments, in the first quarter of 2020 utilizing the modified retrospective transition method and applying the transition provisions at the effective date.

The Company implemented changes to business processes and internal controls that support the new standard. As of the date of implementation on January 1, 2020, the Company recognized $11.1 million as a reduction to the opening retained earnings balance. The main drivers of the consolidated impact at transition are related to the inclusion of future economic conditions, the exclusion of freestanding credit enhancements when estimating the expected credit loss and estimating the lifetime credit losses of notes receivable.

Accounting Standards Issued but Not Yet Adopted

There have been no recently issued accounting standards not yet adopted by us which are expected, upon adoption, to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements or processes.

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

Our contracts with customers primarily require us to deliver fuel and fuel-related products, while other arrangements require us to complete agreed-upon services. Revenue from the sale of fuel is recognized when our customers obtain control of the fuel, which is typically upon delivery of each promised gallon or barrel to an agreed-upon delivery point. We generally recognize revenue for services provided over the contract period when services have been performed based on our right to invoice for those services.

Our contracts may contain fixed or variable pricing (such as market or index-based pricing) or some combination of those. Within our land and aviation segments, contracts with customers may include multi-year sales contracts, which are priced at market-based indices and require minimum volume purchase commitments from our customers. The consideration expected from

these contracts is considered variable due to the market-based pricing and the variability is not resolved until delivery is made to our customers. We have elected to apply the optional exemption from estimating and disclosing the variable consideration from our remaining performance obligations under these contracts.

We also have fixed price fuel and fuel-related product sale contracts with a contract term of less than one year (typically one month). For these contracts, we apply the optional exemption to not disclose the amount of transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations. We also apply this exemption to those contracts in which the right to consideration corresponds directly with the value to the customer of the entity's performance to date. In limited cases, we may have multi-period fixed price contracts. Because our long-term supply arrangements that exceed one year are typically based on market index prices as previously discussed, the transaction price associated with remaining performance obligations under multi-year fixed price fuel sale contracts is not significant.