沛齊 (PAYX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Paychex Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year-End Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this call may be recorded. (Operator Instructions).

大家好，歡迎參加今天的 Paychex 第四季度和財年末收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話可能會被錄音。 （操作員說明）。

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Mr. John Gibson, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將會議交給總裁兼首席執行官約翰·吉布森先生主持。請繼續。

Thank you, Stephanie. Thank you, everyone, for joining us for our discussion of the Paychex Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year '23 earnings release. Joining me today is Efrain Rivera, our Chief Financial Officer. This morning, before the market opened, we released our financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended May 31. You can access our earnings release on our Investor Relations website. Our Form 10-K will be filed with the SEC before the end of July.

謝謝你，斯蒂芬妮。感謝大家加入我們對 Paychex 第四季度和 23 財年收益發布的討論。今天加入我的是我們的首席財務官 Efrain Rivera。今天早上，在開盤前，我們發布了截至 5 月 31 日的第四季度和整個財年的財務業績。您可以在我們的投資者關係網站上訪問我們的收益報告。我們的 10-K 表格將於 7 月底前向 SEC 提交。

This teleconference is being broadcast over the Internet and will be archived and available on our website for approximately 90 days. I'll start with the call today with an update on the business highlights for the fourth quarter and fiscal year April. We'll review our financial results for fiscal '23 and our outlook for '24. We'll then open it up for your questions.

本次電話會議將通過互聯網進行廣播，並將在我們的網站上存檔並提供大約 90 天的時間。我將從今天的電話會議開始，介紹第四季度和四月份財年的業務亮點的最新情況。我們將回顧 23 財年的財務業績和 24 財年的前景。然後我們將打開它來回答您的問題。

We finished fiscal year '23 with solid financial results and momentum heading into fiscal year 2024. Total revenue grew 9% for the full year, and we hit a major milestone for the company with over $5 billion in total revenue. I was personally reflecting on this last night. When I joined the company, we were just over $2 billion. It took us 6 years to go from $2 billion to $3 billion, 3 years to go to $3 billion to $4 billion, and it took us 3 years to go to $4 billion to $5 billion, but I remind everybody that was during a global pandemic. So certainly, very proud of those results.

我們以穩健的財務業績和進入 2024 財年的勢頭結束了 23 財年。全年總收入增長了 9%，我們實現了公司的一個重要里程碑，總收入超過 50 億美元。昨晚我個人對此進行了反思。當我加入公司時，我們的資產剛剛超過 20 億美元。我們用了 6 年時間從 20 億美元增長到 30 億美元，用了 3 年時間從 30 億美元增長到 40 億美元，我們用了 3 年時間從 40 億美元增長到 50 億美元，但我提醒大家，那是在全球大流行期間。當然，我對這些結果感到非常自豪。

In addition to that revenue growth at 9%, adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 13% to $4.27 and operating margins finished at 41% as we continue to benefit from our continued investments in technology, our focus on driving digitalization in all aspects of our business, and our long-standing tradition of operating excellence.

除了收入增長 9% 之外，調整後的攤薄每股收益增長 13% 至 4.27 美元，營業利潤率達到 41%，因為我們繼續受益於對技術的持續投資以及我們專注於推動業務各個方面的數字化，以及我們長期以來卓越運營的傳統。

These results are due to the hard work and dedication of our more than 16,000 employees. I'm very proud of what we've achieved this fiscal year. Our industry-leading technology and advisory solutions have made a positive impact on our clients and their employees. And in return, they continue to reward us with additional business and a continued loyalty.

這些成果歸功於我們 16,000 多名員工的辛勤工作和奉獻。我對我們本財年取得的成就感到非常自豪。我們行業領先的技術和諮詢解決方案對我們的客戶及其員工產生了積極影響。作為回報，他們繼續以額外的業務和持續的忠誠度來獎勵我們。

Momentum in sales has continued with solid growth in new annualized revenue for both the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year. HR Solutions and retirement were areas of particular strength with double-digit growth. We are well positioned in terms of our staffing levels and (inaudible) tenure heading into the new year.

銷售勢頭持續，第四季度和整個財年的新年化收入穩步增長。人力資源解決方案和退休是特別有優勢的領域，實現了兩位數的增長。進入新的一年，我們在人員配置水平和（聽不清）任期方面處於有利地位。

Revenue retention finished the year near record levels as we continue to focus on retaining and increasing our share of wallet with our high-value customer segments. Client retention was impacted by higher losses due to out of business concentrated mainly in newly formed businesses in the last 2 years and financial distress in the lower revenue small clients.

由於我們繼續專注於保留和增加高價值客戶群體的錢包份額，今年的收入保留接近創紀錄水平。客戶保留率受到較高損失的影響，原因是過去兩年的業務主要集中在新成立的業務中，以及收入較低的小客戶面臨財務困境。

We continue to see strong demand for our HR outsourcing solutions with worksite employee growth over 10% year-over-year. Over the year, we achieved record level of worksite employee retention due to our strong and unique value proposition of our leading HR technology and advisory capabilities.

我們繼續看到對人力資源外包解決方案的強勁需求，現場員工同比增長超過 10%。在這一年裡，由於我們領先的人力資源技術和諮詢能力的強大而獨特的價值主張，我們的工作場所員工保留率達到了創紀錄的水平。

Businesses of all sizes continue to navigate the challenges of a very complicated regulatory environment, a competitive labor market and now tightening credit. Demand for our solutions remained strong due to the depth and breadth of our integrated offerings, including HR technology designed to deliver efficiency for both the employer and the employee. Our comprehensive HR outsourcing, which leverages the strength of our technology and the experience of a trained HR professional and our outstanding compliance organization and the need for businesses to offer quality benefits, including retirement to compete for talent.

各種規模的企業繼續應對非常複雜的監管環境、競爭激烈的勞動力市場以及當前信貸緊縮的挑戰。由於我們集成產品的深度和廣度，包括旨在為雇主和員工提高效率的人力資源技術，對我們解決方案的需求仍然強勁。我們全面的人力資源外包，利用我們的技術優勢和訓練有素的人力資源專業人員的經驗以及我們出色的合規組織以及企業提供優質福利（包括退休以爭奪人才）的需求。

Our retirement solutions are benefiting from the growing expectations of a retirement plan as a core benefit offering for small and midsized businesses. Recent passage of the Secure Act 2.0 legislation and various state mandates requiring employers to provide retirement services to their employees are making 401(k) as a key benefit for small and midsized businesses. With more state mandates expected to take effect in the future, we expect a strong market for retirement to continue for the foreseeable future, and we are well positioned as a leader to take advantage of this opportunity.

我們的退休解決方案受益於人們對退休計劃作為中小型企業核心福利產品日益增長的期望。最近通過的《安全法案 2.0》立法以及要求雇主為其僱員提供退休服務的多項州法令，使得 401(k) 成為中小型企業的一項主要福利。隨著更多國家強制令預計將在未來生效，我們預計在可預見的未來，強勁的退休市場將持續下去，並且我們作為領導者處於有利地位，可以利用這一機會。

The SMB credit environment has continued to fuel demand for our employee retention tax credit service. Our full-service ERTC offerings has helped tens of thousands of businesses obtain tax credits and getting access to funds they need to keep their businesses running and growing. We continue to communicate this opportunity to existing clients and prospects. Industry recognition continues to reinforce the competitive strength of our technology solutions.

中小企業信貸環境繼續推動對我們的員工保留稅收抵免服務的需求。我們的全方位服務 ERTC 產品已幫助數以萬計的企業獲得稅收抵免，並獲得維持企業運營和發展所需的資金。我們將繼續向現有客戶和潛在客戶傳達這一機會。行業認可不斷增強我們技術解決方案的競爭實力。

For the fourth consecutive year, Paychex Flex earned an HR Tech Award for best small and midsized business focused solution in the core HR category. Our consistency in winning these awards and being placed repeatedly in the leadership quadrant of respected technology analyst rankings speaks to our market leadership in HR technology.

Paychex Flex 連續第四年榮獲人力資源技術獎，表彰核心人力資源類別中最佳中小型企業解決方案。我們始終如一地贏得這些獎項，並多次躋身受人尊敬的技術分析師排名的領導象限，這證明了我們在人力資源技術領域的市場領先地位。

I'm not only very proud of these results and the performance of the team, but I'm also equally proud of how we achieved these results. We have been consistently recognized as one of the world's most admired, most ethical and most innovative company. In addition, we have been ranked as one of the best places to work for people in sales, for women, for diversity, and for our outstanding training and investment in our employees development. These awards are a testament to how our employees not only get the job done, but do it the right way and we are constantly looking for new ways we can make ourselves and our communities better. As we move into fiscal year '24, we will continue our focus on developing leading customer experiences that combine our technology, our advisory capabilities and our partnerships to deliver superior value to our customers.

我不僅對這些成果和團隊的表現感到非常自豪，而且對我們如何取得這些成果也同樣感到自豪。我們一直被公認為世界上最受尊敬、最有道德和最具創新性的公司之一。此外，我們還因銷售人員、女性、多元化以及對員工發展的出色培訓和投資而被評為最佳工作場所之一。這些獎項證明了我們的員工不僅完成了工作，而且以​​正確的方式完成了工作，我們不斷尋找新的方法來讓我們自己和我們的社區變得更好。進入 24 財年，我們將繼續專注於開發領先的客戶體驗，將我們的技術、諮詢能力和合作夥伴關係結合起來，為客戶提供卓越的價值。

Paychex is uniquely positioned to help small and midsized businesses navigate the challenges they face in a complex and ever-changing and evolving world. We remain committed to our purpose, and that is to help businesses succeed. And we'll continually strive to have a positive impact on our clients, our employees our communities and our shareholders.

Paychex 具有獨特的優勢，可以幫助中小型企業應對複雜、不斷變化和發展的世界中面臨的挑戰。我們仍然致力於我們的目標，那就是幫助企業取得成功。我們將不斷努力為我們的客戶、員工、社區和股東產生積極影響。

Now I'll turn it over to Efrain who will take you through our financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year as well as our guidance for fiscal year '24. Efrain?

現在我將把它交給 Efrain，他將向您介紹我們第四季度和本財年的財務業績以及我們對 24 財年的指導。埃夫拉因？

Thanks, John, and good morning to all of you. I hope you're indoors on this smoking Thursday. I thought we're past it, but not quite. I'd like to remind everyone that today's commentary will contain forward-looking statements refer to the customary disclosures that we make. Let me start by providing a summary of our fourth quarter financial results, talk about full year results and then finish with the review of our fiscal 2024 outlook.

謝謝約翰，祝大家早上好。我希望你在這個吸煙的星期四待在室內。我以為我們已經過去了，但還沒有完全過去。我想提醒大家，今天的評論將包含前瞻性陳述，涉及我們所做的慣常披露。讓我首先概述我們第四季度的財務業績，討論全年業績，最後回顧我們的 2024 財年展望。

Before I start, I also want to add that joining us in the room today this morning, Bob Schrader, VP of Finance and IR. Many of you have met Bob.

在開始之前，我還想補充一下今天早上加入我們會議室的財務和投資者關係副總裁鮑勃·施拉德 (Bob Schrader)。你們中的許多人都見過鮑勃。

Okay. For the fourth quarter, you saw total revenue increased 7% to $1.2 billion. Management Solutions revenue was up 7%, a little bit over $900 million driven by additional product penetration into our ancillary services, which currently is mostly ERTC and also price realization. We continue to see strong attachment of our HR solutions, retirement and time and attendance products.

好的。第四季度的總收入增長了 7%，達到 12 億美元。管理解決方案收入增長了 7%，略高於 9 億美元，這是由於更多產品滲透到我們的輔助服務中，目前主要是 ERTC 和價格實現。我們繼續看到人們對我們的人力資源解決方案、退休和考勤產品的強烈依戀。

Demand for our ERTC service remained strong, as John mentioned, and it contributed approximately 1% to 2% to total revenue growth for the full year. Demand for this service along with our internal execution have continued to exceed our expectations, while ERTC has been a tailwind and we expected demand to continue into fiscal year '24. It will become a moderate headwind next year, especially in the back half of the year where it will become more of a headwind.

正如 John 提到的，對我們 ERTC 服務的需求仍然強勁，它對全年總收入增長的貢獻約為 1% 至 2%。對這項服務的需求以及我們的內部執行力繼續超出我們的預期，而 ERTC 一直是推動力，我們預計需求將持續到 24 財年。明年它將成為一個溫和的逆風，特別是在今年下半年，它將變得更加逆風。

PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue increased 5% to $300 million, driven by higher revenue per client and growth in average worksite employees. The rate of growth was tempered a bit by lower medical plan sales and participant volumes along with continued preference for ASO in this environment. We expect these trends will start to normalize as we progress through fiscal 2024, though it won't be evident necessarily in Q1, and I'll talk about that in a little bit.

PEO 和保險解決方案的收入增長了 5%，達到 3 億美元，這得益於每個客戶收入的增加和平均工作場所員工的增長。由於醫療計劃銷售量和參與者數量的下降以及這種環境下對 ASO 的持續偏好，增長率有所放緩。我們預計，隨著 2024 財年的進展，這些趨勢將開始正常化，儘管這一趨勢在第一季度不一定明顯，我稍後會討論這一點。

Interest on funds held for clients increased 69% to $25 million, primarily due to higher average interest rates, partially offset by realized losses taken in Q4 as we reposition the portfolio heading into the back half of this year.

為客戶持有的資金利息增加了 69%，達到 2500 萬美元，這主要是由於平均利率上升，但部分被第四季度實現的損失所抵消，因為我們在今年下半年重新配置了投資組合。

Total expenses increased 3% to $776 million, expense growth was largely attributable to higher headcount, wage rates and general cost to support growth in the business. Operating income increased 15% to $453 million, with an operating margin of just under 37%, a 240 basis point expansion over the prior year period. Diluted earnings per share increased 18% to $0.97, per share and adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 20% for the quarter to again $0.97 per share.

總費用增長 3%，達到 7.76 億美元，費用增長主要歸因於支持業務增長的員工人數、工資水平和一般成本的增加。營業收入增長 15%，達到 4.53 億美元，營業利潤率略低於 37%，比上年同期增長 240 個基點。本季度稀釋每股收益增長 18%，達到 0.97 美元，調整後稀釋每股收益增長 20%，再次達到每股 0.97 美元。

Let me quickly summarize our full year results. Total revenue increased 9% to $5 billion and total service revenue increased 8% to $4.9 billion. As you are all aware, we raised guidance a number of times during the year. Management Solutions increased 8% to $3.7 billion. PEO and Insurance increased 6% to $1.2 billion. Total expenses were up 7% to $3 billion. Operating income increased 10% and with a margin of 40.6%, John mentioned this earlier, as a 70 basis point expansion over the prior year. The leverage in the model as pretty evident.

讓我快速總結一下我們全年的業績。總收入增長 9%，達到 50 億美元，總服務收入增長 8%，達到 49 億美元。眾所周知，我們在這一年中多次提出了指導意見。管理解決方案增長了 8%，達到 37 億美元。 PEO 和保險業增長 6%，達到 12 億美元。總支出增長 7%，達到 30 億美元。約翰早些時候提到，營業收入增長了 10%，利潤率為 40.6%，比上年增長了 70 個基點。模型中的槓桿作用非常明顯。

Other income net increased by over $30 million due to higher average interest rates and average investment balances within the corporate investment portfolio. Diluted earnings per share increased 12% to $4.30 per share, and adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 13% to $4.27 per share.

由於企業投資組合內的平均利率和平均投資餘額較高，其他收入淨額增加了超過 3000 萬美元。稀釋每股收益增長 12%，達到每股 4.30 美元，調整後稀釋每股收益增長 13%，達到每股 4.27 美元。

Our financial position remains rock solid with cash, restricted cash and total corporate investments of more than $1.6 billion and total borrowings of approximately $808 million as of May 2023. Cash flow from operations was $1.7 billion for the fiscal year, an increase of 13% from the prior year. Driven by higher net income and changes in working capital, free cash flow generated for the year was $1.5 billion, up 15% year-over-year.

截至 2023 年 5 月，我們的財務狀況依然堅如磐石，現金、限制性現金和企業投資總額超過 16 億美元，借款總額約為 8.08 億美元。本財年運營現金流為 17 億美元，比上年增長 13%前一年。在淨利潤增加和營運資本變化的推動下，全年產生的自由現金流為 15 億美元，同比增長 15%。

And while it's easy to glance over those numbers. I think it's really important that when we work to note that when we report numbers, the quality of our earnings and our quality of our cash is very, very strong, as noted by some of you. Not only do we deliver on the top line, but we delivered in a quality way for them on the bottom line, and we intend to continue to do that.

雖然瀏覽這些數字很容易。我認為非常重要的是，當我們在報告數字時要注意，我們的收入質量和現金質量非常非常強勁，正如你們中的一些人所指出的那樣。我們不僅實現了營收，而且還以高質量的方式為他們實現了盈利，我們打算繼續這樣做。

We paid out a total of $1.2 billion as dividends during fiscal 2023 or 70% of our net income. Our 12-month rolling return on equity with a stellar 48% with an arrow pointing up.

2023 財年，我們總共支付了 12 億美元的股息，占淨利潤的 70%。我們的 12 個月滾動股本回報率高達 48%（箭頭向上）。

Now let me turn to guidance for the upcoming fiscal year ending May 2024. Our current outlook, as you saw, is as follows. Management Solutions expected to grow in the range of 5% to 6%. PEO and Insurance Solutions is expected to grow in the range of 6% to 9%. We widened that a bit just to accommodate the fact that sometimes attachment on insurance can vary from quarter-to-quarter and from year-to-year as we saw last year.

現在讓我談談截至 2024 年 5 月的下一財年的指導。正如您所見，我們目前的展望如下。管理解決方案預計將增長 5% 至 6%。 PEO 和保險解決方案預計將增長 6% 至 9%。我們擴大了這一範圍，只是為了適應這樣一個事實，即有時保險附加費可能會隨著季度和每年的變化而變化，正如我們去年看到的那樣。

Interest on funds held for clients is expected to be in the range of $135 million to $145 million. Total revenue is expected to grow in the range of 6% to 7%. Operating income margin is expected to be in the range of 41% to 42%. Other income net is expected to be income in the range of $30 million to $35 million. And then our effective income tax rate is expected to be in the range of 24% to 25%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share expected to grow in the range of 9% to 10%.

為客戶持有的資金利息預計在 1.35 億美元至 1.45 億美元之間。總收入預計將增長6%至7%。營業利潤率預計在41%至42%之間。其他淨收入預計在 3000 萬至 3500 萬美元之間。那麼我們的有效所得稅稅率預計將在24%至25%的範圍內。調整後的稀釋每股收益預計將增長9%至10%。

This outlook assumes current macroeconomic environment, which, as you know, has some uncertainty surrounding future interest rate changes in the economy. We have better visibility in the first half fiscal 2024 as each quarter progresses. We have a little better visibility into the remaining quarters in the year. For the first half of fiscal 2024 and the first quarter, we expect total revenue growth to be approximately 6%. That's the first half and the first quarter. We anticipate operating margins for the first quarter to be approximately 41%. That'll help do a little bit on your modeling. And we expect PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue to be below the low end of the range for the first quarter, then it will be solidly in the range. That's our expectation at this point.

這一前景假設當前的宏觀經濟環境，如您所知，未來經濟利率變化存在一些不確定性。隨著每個季度的進展，我們對 2024 財年上半年的情況有了更好的了解。我們對今年剩餘的幾個季度有了更好的了解。對於2024財年上半年和第一季度，我們預計總收入增長約為6%。這是上半場和第一季度。我們預計第一季度的營業利潤率約為 41%。這會對你的建模有所幫助。我們預計第一季度 PEO 和保險解決方案收入將低於該範圍的低端，然後將穩定在該範圍內。這是我們目前的期望。

Before you ask me the question, I'll answer the first quarter was actually the strongest quarter of the year on PEO last year. And as a consequence, the compare will be a little bit tougher, and we expect the business to build as we go through the year. Of course, all of this is subject to our current assumptions, and they can change. We'll update you again on the first quarter call.

在你問我這個問題之前，我先回答一下，第一季度實際上是去年 PEO 表現最強勁的一個季度。因此，比較會更加困難，我們預計業務將隨著這一年的發展而發展。當然，所有這些都取決於我們當前的假設，並且它們可能會改變。我們將在第一季度電話會議上再次向您通報最新情況。

There's a number of questions because, of course, the time when we give the annual guidance. So if I could just ask for your forbearance on something, which is to say, ask a question and limit yourself to one follow-up. Now I will say I understand some of those questions will be compound questions. But if it's a 5-part compound question, then it violates the rule. But just so we can get through the call without going excessively long. With all of that, I will refer you to our investor slides on our website for additional information. And I'll turn the call back over to John.

當然，由於我們給出年度指導的時間，存在很多問題。因此，如果我可以請求您對某事保持寬容，也就是說，提出一個問題並限制自己進行一次後續行動。現在我會說我知道其中一些問題將是複合問題。但如果這是一個由 5 部分組成的複合問題，那麼它就違反了規則。但這樣我們就可以在不花太長時間的情況下完成通話。綜上所述，我將向您推薦我們網站上的投資者幻燈片以獲取更多信息。我會把電話轉回給約翰。

Okay. And now with all the conditions and restrictions that Efrain has laid out for you, we'll now open the call for questions.

好的。現在，根據 Efrain 為您提出的所有條件和限制，我們現在將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Ramsey El-Assal with Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自巴克萊銀行的拉姆齊·阿薩爾（Ramsey El-Assal）。

Can you comment on the pricing environment. You called it out a little bit in the press release. And I guess the question is, are you seeing sort of a window right now for more aggressive pricing adjustments just given the inflationary environment? Or is this sort of -- are you feeling now that you're in sort of a steady state kind of continual trajectory when it comes to pricing?

您能否評論一下定價環境？您在新聞稿中稍微提到了這一點。我想問題是，考慮到通脹環境，您現在是否看到了進行更激進的定價調整的窗口？或者是這樣的——您現在是否感覺在定價方面處於一種穩定的持續軌跡？

Ramsey, yes, I would say we're more in a steady state. I feel good about where we are. I think the value of our products and services. I think what we see when we talk about price inside our customer base they're rewarding us. They're being the value we're getting. And as we did last year, we believe we have pricing of power inside the base, and we'll continue to avail ourselves of that.

拉姆齊，是的，我想說我們更處於穩定狀態。我對我們所處的位置感覺很好。我認為我們的產品和服務的價值。我認為，當我們在客戶群內部談論價格時，我們看到他們正在獎勵我們。它們就是我們獲得的價值。正如我們去年所做的那樣，我們相信我們在基地內部擁有電力定價，我們將繼續利用這一點。

And then in terms in new clients and prospects in the competitive environment, hey, we've always been in a competitive market, and I see stable pricing. And I think as we go through this year, we'll continue to do what we need to do to be competitive in the marketplace. So I don't see any major shifts of change on either side of the pricing equation.

然後就競爭環境中的新客戶和潛在客戶而言，嘿，我們一直處於競爭激烈的市場中，而且我看到穩定的定價。我認為，今年我們將繼續做我們需要做的事情，以保持市場競爭力。因此，我認為定價等式的任何一方都沒有發生任何重大變化。

Okay. And I wanted to ask also about retention. Obviously, retention at healthy record levels. At the same time, you called out a little bit of where you were seeing a little bit of headwind. I think it was from out of business from newly formed businesses. And I think there was some other color that Efrain provided. If you could just elaborate on that a little bit, I'd appreciate it.

好的。我還想問一下關於保留的問題。顯然，保留率保持在健康的記錄水平。與此同時，你喊出了一點你看到的逆風。我認為這是由於新成立的企業停業所致。我認為 Efrain 還提供了其他一些顏色。如果您能詳細說明一下，我將不勝感激。

Yes, Ramsey. I think it's been pretty consistent. And I think on all the prior calls, I said probably as we expected. So we continue to really focus our efforts on the high-end part of our valuable clients, particularly in HR outsourcing there. We continue to maintain both in the PEO and ASO. Record retention from a revenue and client perspective there. Where we did see -- and we had near record retention overall across the business, again, because of that focus that we're having and the things we're doing from driving value in our high-value customer segments.

是的，拉姆齊。我認為這非常一致。我認為在之前的所有電話中，我所說的可能正如我們所預期的那樣。因此，我們繼續將精力集中在有價值客戶的高端部分，特別是那裡的人力資源外包。我們繼續保留 PEO 和 ASO。從收入和客戶的角度記錄留存率。我們確實看到了——我們在整個業務中的整體保留率接近創紀錄，這再次是因為我們所關注的重點以及我們為推動高價值客戶群的價值所做的事情。

As we expected, we did see some out of business and then when I pull that back, what you're seeing is exactly what I thought we'd see we had a very high number of new business starts 2 years ago. And almost every model, and I don't care whether we're in a recession, good times or bad times, a business starts and in the first 2 years, about half of them are gone. And so I'm not surprised when we're saying we kind of expected that to be the case, and that's what we saw on kind of the client retention side.

正如我們所預期的那樣，我們確實看到一些企業停業，然後當我把這一點撤回時，您所看到的正是我認為兩年前我們會看到的新業務數量非常多的情況。幾乎每一種模式，我不在乎我們是否處於經濟衰退期，好時光還是壞時光，企業開始運營後，在前兩年，大約一半的企業就消失了。因此，當我們說我們預計會出現這種情況時，我並不感到驚訝，這就是我們在客戶保留方面看到的情況。

But again, even if you look at the client retention side, we're back to where we were pre-pandemic levels. So nothing dramatic there. So I'd say that's more stabilizing, and we kind of expect that kind of more typical, stable kind of client attrition to occur as we're going into '24.

但同樣，即使你看看客戶保留方面，我們也回到了大流行前的水平。所以沒有什麼戲劇性的。所以我想說這更穩定，我們預計在進入 24 年時會出現這種更典型、更穩定的客戶流失。

Our next question will come from Jason Kupferberg with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行的 Jason Kupferberg。

This is [Eric Drey] on for Jason. I had a question just kind of high level. We've seen small businesses be really resilient. It kind of seems like the macro may avoid a hard landing. But curious about kind of trends you're seeing among different client groups. Anything to call out, maybe blue collar versus white collar, any color you can add there?

這是傑森的[埃里克·德雷]。我有一個很高級別的問題。我們已經看到小型企業非常有彈性。看起來宏觀經濟可能會避免硬著陸。但對您在不同客戶群體中看到的趨勢感到好奇。有什麼需要注意的嗎，也許是藍領與白領，你可以在那裡添加任何顏色嗎？

Yes. Look, I think, again, not seeing anything, Eric, that out of the norm. I think generally, we've continued to see the hospitality when you go back and look at our jobs index, Hospitality has probably been the laggard. The leisure and hospitality has been the laggard through the course of the recession. What we've seen there is they've really made a good strong comeback, I would say, in the back half of this fiscal year for us and are getting back to what I'm trying to level employment levels of the other segments, not really seeing anything specifically out of the ordinary.

是的。聽著，我想，埃里克，再一次，沒有看到任何不尋常的東西。我認為總的來說，當你回頭看看我們的就業指數時，我們繼續看到酒店業，酒店業可能是落後的。在經濟衰退期間，休閒和酒店業一直表現落後。我們看到的是，我想說，在本財年的後半段，他們確實取得了強勁的複蘇，並且正在恢復我試圖平衡其他部門就業水平的目標，並沒有真正看到任何特別不尋常的東西。

Certainly, in the low end of the market, you're seeing a lot more of the small companies go back to what we said on the retention side. Newer start-ups, smaller companies finding more pressure relative to inability to pass price. And so they're being scored by inflation and then also the credit situation.

當然，在低端市場，你會看到更多的小公司回到我們所說的保留方面。較新的初創企業、規模較小的公司因無法傳遞價格而面臨更大的壓力。因此，它們是根據通貨膨脹和信貸狀況來評分的。

Okay. Great. And then on the -- this one is for Efrain. On the float guidance, kind of 2 parts. What are you thinking about for interest rates? And then what are your thoughts on kind of managing duration? I know the question comes up every call, but thought I'd ask.

好的。偉大的。然後，這個是給 Efrain 的。在浮動引導上，有兩部分。關於利率，你在想什麼？那麼您對管理持續時間的方式有何看法？我知道每次打電話都會遇到這個問題，但我想我會問。

So what we're thinking and then how we're managing, I'll break those 2. And I mentioned in previous calls that I was really concerned about a sharp decline in rates in first half '24 in the end of this year, calendar year. I don't think that's likely to happen. So at this point, our thinking is that there'll be a couple of rate increases as we go through the first half of the year and likely to see some rate decreases as we enter next year.

所以我們在想什麼，然後我們如何管理，我將打破這兩個。我在之前的電話會議中提到，我真的很擔心今年年底 24 年上半年利率的急劇下降，公曆年。我認為這不太可能發生。因此，目前我們的想法是，今年上半年將會有幾次利率上調，而進入明年時可能會出現一些利率下降。

Certainly, John's comments recently would seem to indicate that's where we're going. But I think -- we think our assumption is that in the first half of calendar year '24 or second half, you're going to see rate decreases. So net-net, that's what's incorporated in our guidance. So while we could adjust and play games in terms of where we are with futures. That's what our thinking is. And as we get through the year, in the back half of the year, we'll update kind of where we're at.

當然，約翰最近的評論似乎表明這就是我們的發展方向。但我認為 - 我們認為我們的假設是，在 24 日曆年的上半年或下半年，您將看到利率下降。因此，net-net，這就是我們的指南中包含的內容。因此，我們可以根據未來的情況進行調整和玩遊戲。這就是我們的想法。當我們度過這一年時，在今年下半年，我們將更新我們的情況。

So as to position in the portfolio, my bias is to go along as we go through the year to mitigate what in '24 is likely to be a set of rate decreases. I can't call it any closer than that. I think that our numbers kind of support that kind of scenario.

就投資組合的定位而言，我的偏見是隨著這一年的進展，以緩解 24 年可能出現的一系列降息。我不能稱之為比這更接近的了。我認為我們的數字支持這種情況。

Our next question will come from Rayna Kumar with UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的 Rayna Kumar。

Can you talk about what bookings was? Can you talk a little bit about bookings in the quarter? Anything to call out on different customer sizes and products where you're seeing strength or weaknesses?

您能談談預訂是什麼嗎？您能談談本季度的預訂情況嗎？您認為不同的客戶規模和產品有什麼優勢或劣勢？

Yes. So look, we actually saw strong demand continuing, I would say, actually, the -- we actually saw some acceleration in the fourth quarter when you look at it. In the back half of the fiscal year was actually stronger than the first half, which was a public thing, HR services, our HR solutions continue to resonate a retirement. We saw a pickup in the low and digital end of our business in the fourth quarter, which was nice to see.

是的。所以看，我們實際上看到強勁的需求仍在持續，我想說，實際上，當你看到它時，我們實際上在第四季度看到了一些加速。本財年後半段實際上比上半年強，這是公共事務，人力資源服務，我們的人力資源解決方案繼續引起退休人員的共鳴。我們看到第四季度低端和數字端業務有所回升，這是很高興看到的。

And in fact, I would say the PEO had improvement in Q4 as well, which was an encouraging sign that some of the changes in approach that we've been working on are beginning to get traction. It's early there and the key part of that season is in the first quarter, which leads into the second quarter. But again, very pleased with the strong demand that we saw across the platform. So I think we've got a good set of products and services. There's strong demand in this environment across all the market that we're in.

事實上，我想說 PEO 在第四季度也有所改善，這是一個令人鼓舞的跡象，表明我們一直在努力的一些方法改變正在開始受到關注。現在還很早，這個賽季的關鍵部分是第一季度，然後是第二季度。但同樣，我們對整個平台上的強勁需求感到非常高興。所以我認為我們擁有一套很好的產品和服務。在這種環境下，我們所處的所有市場都有強勁的需求。

Got it. It's very helpful. And then just a quick -- really quick follow-up to stay within Efrain's guidelines here. Could you call out the ERTC contribution just for the fourth quarter?

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後進行快速、非常快速的跟進，以遵守 Efrain 的指導方針。您能否列出第四季度 ERTC 的貢獻？

No, we didn't. I think, Rayna, we're going to stick with it 1% to 2% on growth for the full year. So -- and then that converts from a tailwind into a headwind next year. That's as far as we go.

不，我們沒有。我認為，Rayna，我們將堅持全年 1% 到 2% 的增長。所以——然後明年就會從順風變成逆風。我們就到此為止了。

Our next question will come from Andrew Nicholas with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題將由安德魯·尼古拉斯和威廉·布萊爾提出。

I was going to ask first on kind of M&A within Paychex. If you could just kind of give us an update on your ambitions, both in the near term and medium term? This is definitely a compound question, but a preference between ACM and PEO and anything you could say on valuations?

我想首先詢問 Paychex 內部的併購類型。您能否向我們介紹一下您的近期和中期抱負的最新情況？這絕對是一個複合問題，但 ACM 和 PEO 之間的偏好以及您對估值有何看法？

Yes. Andrew, thanks for the question. Our ambitions remain the same. We're trying to find opportunities that meet our strategic objectives. And at the same time, make sense financially. The latter has been more challenging in the environment, I would say, over the past few years, but I think we certainly begin to see some change in the market dynamics and our pipeline you're beginning to expand with opportunities that I think are more realistic for us to consider.

是的。安德魯，謝謝你的提問。我們的抱負保持不變。我們正在努力尋找符合我們戰略目標的機會。同時，在經濟上也有意義。我想說，在過去的幾年裡，後者在環境中更具挑戰性，但我認為我們肯定開始看到市場動態的一些變化，並且我們的管道開始擴大，我認為這些機會更多供我們考慮是現實的。

I don't think our focus has really changed. We're going to continue to look for tuck-ins that help us kind of add scale in new markets or expand our product suite. We're looking for capability enhancements, particularly in the digital area, digital capabilities, data, data analytics, HR analytics.

我認為我們的重點並沒有真正改變。我們將繼續尋找可以幫助我們在新市場擴大規模或擴展我們的產品組合的產品。我們正在尋求能力增強，特別是在數字領域、數字能力、數據、數據分析、人力資源分析方面。

And again, we're constantly looking at numerous adjacencies as the market continues to evolve and looking for new growth platforms that are adjacent to our current suite of solutions and really help us continue to deliver that value proposition to small and medium-sized businesses to help them succeed. So again, tuck-ins, capability enhancements and new growth platforms that's our areas of focus, and we're going to continue to be mindful of making sure we're getting good deals and not as a pain.

再說一次，隨著市場的不斷發展，我們不斷關注眾多鄰接點，並尋找與我們當前的解決方案套件相鄰的新增長平台，並真正幫助我們繼續向中小型企業提供價值主張幫助他們成功。再說一遍，整合、能力增強和新的增長平台是我們關注的領域，我們將繼續注意確保我們獲得好的交易而不是痛苦。

That's helpful. And then for my follow-up, I just wanted to ask on kind of the margin guide for next year. I think last quarter, you spoke to a preliminary target of 25 to 50 basis points. I think the 41% to 42% range you put out this morning is a decent bit higher at the midpoint. So if you could just kind of unpack that a little bit, what's changed in terms of your outlook, if anything, or if it's just a matter of rounded numbers, and that's totally fine as well. Just trying to get a little bit more insight there.

這很有幫助。然後，對於我的後續行動，我只想詢問明年的利潤指南。我認為上個季度，您談到了 25 至 50 個基點的初步目標。我認為你今天早上給出的 41% 到 42% 的範圍在中點上要高一些。因此，如果你能稍微解開一下，看看你的觀點發生了什麼變化，如果有的話，或者如果這只是一個四捨五入的數字問題，那也完全沒問題。只是想在那裡獲得更多的見解。

Yes. I guess I'd answer that in a couple of ways. Look, March is preliminary, I mean that we haven't gone to a plan I think that John continue to tradition that we've had in the company, which is to say where can we find sources of leverage in the P&L. So obviously, mix has an impact on that, Andrew. As you're aware, you have more you have opportunity and more management solutions that gives you more opportunity. But I would say we went through a pretty disciplined process in the planning process to see where there were opportunities for leverage and cover them and that's what you're seeing in the guidance.

是的。我想我會通過幾種方式來回答這個問題。看，三月是初步的，我的意思是我們還沒有製定計劃，我認為約翰繼續我們公司的傳統，也就是說我們在哪裡可以找到損益表中的槓桿來源。很明顯，混合對此有影響，安德魯。如您所知，您擁有更多的機會和更多的管理解決方案，可以為您提供更多的機會。但我想說的是，我們在規劃過程中經歷了一個非常嚴格的過程，以了解哪裡有利用機會並覆蓋它們，這就是您在指南中看到的內容。

I'd say one other thing that's really important. The process of planning a year is a 365-day activity. If we get through the first quarter as we go through, we see opportunities both on the investment side and also on the cost side, we go for it, and we challenge ourselves to find those opportunities. So I think that in addition to the fact that, that was a byproduct that we're not byproduct, but a theme of the planning process, we think in those terms. And so because you have to go into the year with multiple levers to find leverage if you need it. So we're -- as we speak, thinking about, okay, how can we even do better or offset any potential issues that might come up in the year. So it's that. There's a little bit around a little bit of planning and a little bit of D&A.

我想說另一件非常重要的事情。一年的計劃過程是一項為期 365 天的活動。如果我們度過第一季度，我們會看到投資方面和成本方面的機會，我們會努力爭取，並挑戰自己尋找這些機會。所以我認為，除此之外，這是一個副產品，我們不是副產品，而是規劃過程的一個主題，我們從這些角度思考。因為你必須在這一年中使用多種槓桿來找到需要的槓桿。因此，正如我們所說，我們正在思考，好吧，我們如何才能做得更好或抵消今年可能出現的任何潛在問題。就是這樣。其中包括一些規劃和一些 D&A。

Our next question will come from Kevin McVeigh with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞士信貸銀行的凱文·麥克維。

I'll just have one to make up some time. Efrain, you talked a little bit about, I think, kind of revenue retention versus client retention and revenue retention being at all-time high despite kind of, I think, a little shift in client. Can you help us frame what the delta is there, kind of what it is today and kind of where that's been historically? And I'd imagine it's probably narrowed over time, but is there any way to frame that a little bit more?

我就找個時間補補吧。 Efrain，我認為您談到了收入保留與客戶保留的比較，以及儘管我認為客戶發生了一些變化，但收入保留仍處於歷史最高水平。您能幫助我們了解三角洲的情況、今天的情況以及歷史上的情況嗎？我想隨著時間的推移，它可能會縮小，但是有什麼辦法可以進一步縮小範圍嗎？

Yes, yes. So look, it was approaching the mid-80s during the pandemic, but that really is in some ways kind of an outlier. When we reported last year, it's kind of like 1 year post the midpoint of the pandemic -- I'm sorry, the pandemic, it was between 83% and 84% and this year, we're between 82% and 83%. So as John mentioned, we saw some larger losses on the low end of the market.

是的是的。所以看，在大流行期間，時間已接近 80 年代中期，但這在某些方面確實是異常值。當我們去年報導時，這有點像大流行中點一年後——對不起，大流行，這一比例在 83% 到 84% 之間，而今年，我們在 82% 到 83% 之間。正如約翰提到的，我們在低端市場看到了一些更大的損失。

I'll frame that in one second. That 82%, 83% is consistent with where we've been in prior years. There's nothing unusual about that. What was unusual during the pandemic was that the number of bankruptcies, what we call involuntary losses will be much lower than it normally has been. And there's obvious reasons I don't even tell everyone on the call about PPP.

我會在一秒鐘內將其框架化。 82%、83% 與我們前幾年的情況一致。這沒什麼不尋常的。疫情期間不同尋常的是，破產數量（我們稱之為非自願損失）將遠低於正常情況。我什至沒有告訴電話會議上的每個人有關 PPP 的信息，這是有明顯原因的。

So a lot of those clients kind of got through the client base to John's point, what was going on was that we had a pent-up group of very small clients that were being propped up a bit by funding. In some ways, the losses were higher because of that. And I think we're now back to more normalized environment in terms of losses.

因此，很多客戶都通過客戶群了解了約翰的觀點，發生的事情是我們有一群被壓抑的非常小的客戶，他們得到了資金的支撐。在某些方面，損失因此更高。我認為就損失而言，我們現在已經回到了更加正常化的環境。

But I want to make an important point and John referenced it. We put a lot of emphasis on revenue retention, especially among high-value clients and what's not different or what is different in pandemic is that our revenue retention is higher than it was pre-pandemic. So we're at record retention levels from revenue. That's where we've put a lot of our focus on, and I can -- I won't do it but we could cite many, many efforts that go into retaining our highest clients so we can deliver approximately 88% revenue retention.

但我想提出一個重要的觀點，約翰也提到了這一點。我們非常重視收入保留，特別是在高價值客戶中，與大流行病相同或不同的是，我們的收入保留率高於大流行前。因此，我們的收入保留率達到了創紀錄的水平。這就是我們投入大量精力的地方，我可以——我不會這樣做，但我們可以舉出很多很多的努力來留住我們的最高客戶，這樣我們就可以實現大約 88% 的收入保留。

That's important. That's an important number for us. And so while in the past, we talk a lot about unit retention, nothing wrong with that. You want that. The reality is that what's become much more important is that you save and you retain your highest value clients. And so while on -- while our unit retention is in line with what it was pre-pandemic our revenue retention was higher and it has remained higher and will be an area of focus going forward.

這很重要。這對我們來說是一個重要的數字。因此，在過去，我們談論了很多關於單位保留的問題，這並沒有什麼問題。你想要那個。現實情況是，節省並留住最高價值的客戶變得更加重要。因此，雖然我們的單位保留率與大流行前一致，但我們的收入保留率更高，並且一直保持在較高水平，並將成為未來的重點領域。

Kevin, the thing I would add to that, I want like to remind everybody is I go back and -- we go back and look at this over the last 4 to 5 years. When we say pre-pandemic levels, you go back to '19 and if you read our transcript, what you would also hear in '19 is that on a client retention, we were aligned, we actually had historical high client retention back in '19 as well. So we are returning on the client side to levels that historically for Paychex would have been historical high in terms of client retention.

凱文，我要補充的一點是，我想提醒大家，我會回顧過去 4 到 5 年的情況。當我們說大流行前的水平時，你可以回到 19 年，如果你閱讀我們的文字記錄，你還會在 19 年聽到的是，在客戶保留率方面，我們是一致的，我們實際上在 19 年就擁有歷史最高的客戶保留率。 19 也是如此。因此，我們正在將客戶端恢復到 Paychex 歷史上客戶保留率的歷史高水平。

And then as Efrain pointed out, we've had a lot of focus on what we need to do to drive better retention in our high-value segments, and we've been very successful to do that. And I think coming out of the pandemic, the value that we've demonstrated to those clients in terms of both our technology enhancements as well as the advisory support that we've given them through very challenging times. I think they've rewarded us. They reward this by buying more from us, they've rewarded us by giving us the opportunity to have a better pricing for those products and services because they see the value and they reward this with their loyalty.

然後，正如 Efrain 指出的那樣，我們非常關注需要採取哪些措施來提高高價值細分市場的保留率，並且我們在這方面非常成功。我認為，在疫情結束後，我們向這些客戶展示了我們的價值，包括我們的技術增強以及我們在充滿挑戰的時期為他們提供的諮詢支持。我認為他們已經獎勵了我們。他們通過從我們這裡購買更多產品來獎勵我們，他們通過讓我們有機會為這些產品和服務提供更好的定價來獎勵我們，因為他們看到了價值，並用他們的忠誠度來獎勵這一點。

Our next question will come from Bryan Bergin with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題將由 Bryan Bergin 和 TD Cowen 提出。

I wanted to dig into management solutions here a bit more and maybe some of the underlying growth driver assumptions for '24. When we look here, just this year, in '23, I see total company client growth of like 1.5 points in '23, and you're citing increased product penetration and price realization, can you kind of roll that forward for us here? Can you give us a sense on how you're thinking about the pieces here across the client growth versus pricing versus product attached?

我想在這裡深入研究一下管理解決方案，也許還有一些 24 世紀的潛在增長驅動因素假設。當我們看到這裡時，就在今年，23 年，我看到公司客戶總數在 23 年增長了 1.5 個百分點，您提到了產品滲透率和價格實現的增加，您能在這里為我們推動這一趨勢嗎？您能否讓我們了解一下您如何看待客戶增長、定價和附加產品方面的各個部分？

Yes. Yes. I would say, Bryan, 2 things is that we have said that typical client growth in a year, it's going to be in the 1% to 3% range. We were on the low end of that range. We expect to be middle or higher next year. So that's part of the equation. On the pricing side, we're typically in the 2% to 4% range, although recent years, higher than that. We're on the mid to maybe perhaps a little bit higher than mid-level on the pricing side. Those are sort of the basic elements and then you got mix and additional product penetration driving the remainder of that.

是的。是的。布萊恩，我想說的兩件事是，我們已經說過，一年內的典型客戶增長將在 1% 到 3% 的範圍內。我們處於該範圍的低端。我們預計明年將達到中等或更高水平。這就是等式的一部分。在定價方面，我們通常在 2% 到 4% 的範圍內，儘管近年來，價格高於這個水平。在定價方面，我們處於中間水平，也許比中間水平稍高一點。這些是基本元素，然後你會得到混合和額外的產品滲透來推動其餘部分。

Now if you start reconciling I got to take the negatives, too. And the negative is I'm going to get some headwind from ERTC, which you will see in on the management solution side. So that's when you triangulate all those pieces, that's where you get to a 5% to 6% growth.

現在，如果你開始和解，我也必須接受負面影響。負面影響是我將受到 ERTC 的一些阻力，您將在管理解決方案方面看到這一點。因此，當你對所有這些部分進行三角測量時，你就會獲得 5% 到 6% 的增長。

Okay. How about client employment there, so and I guess specifically in 4Q, how do it occur in 3Q, and then for 24 as well?

好的。那裡的客戶就業情況如何，我猜具體是在第四季度，第三季度是如何發生的，然後是 24 季度？

Sorry, I started talking on the (inaudible). You were saying in Q3 and then Q4, what you were saying it.

抱歉，我開始談論（聽不清）。你在第三季度和第四季度都說了你所說的。

Yes. So as you think about client employment, I'm curious about how you're factoring that for '24. But also, I think you guys were assuming 4Q was going to be relatively flattish from 3Q. Did that play out? Or was that different, too?

是的。因此，當您考慮客戶就業時，我很好奇您如何將其考慮到“24”。而且，我認為你們假設第四季度將比第三季度相對持平。就這麼演出來了嗎？或者說這也是不同的？

Yes. Yes, that played out. And going into next year, we expect to be flattish. I will say that. I mean, you always have to have an element of caution on the impact of higher rates. I mean -- they -- there are levels there that would cause me to get a little bit more concerned than I am right now. So we'll have to play that out. And that definitely would have an impact on worksite employee growth. I think it's manageable. We've taken that into account in our plan. But at this point, we're not expecting that is going to change as we go into next year.

是的。是的，結果是這樣。進入明年，我們預計將持平。我會這麼說。我的意思是，您始終必須對利率上升的影響保持謹慎。我的意思是——他們——那裡的某些水平會讓我比現在更加擔心。所以我們必須解決這個問題。這肯定會對工作場所員工的成長產生影響。我認為這是可以管理的。我們已經在我們的計劃中考慮到了這一點。但就目前而言，我們預計這種情況不會隨著明年的到來而改變。

Our next question will come from Bryan Keane with Deutsche Bank

我們的下一個問題將來自德意志銀行的 Bryan Keane

I just wanted to follow up on the client growth question. It sounds like you expect it to go up a little bit higher than it was. It was on the low end of the range and then it will go up. Is that a function of what you're seeing in the sales channel? Or is that a little bit of retention, just given that maybe some of the smaller clients that churned off during the pandemic, you won't have that same issue as you go into this year

我只是想跟進客戶增長問題。聽起來你預計它會比原來高一點。它處於該範圍的低端，然後會上升。這是您在銷售渠道中看到的功能嗎？或者是一點保留，只是考慮到可能有一些小客戶在大流行期間流失，今年你不會遇到同樣的問題

Yes, Bryan, 2 answers to that is, and John mentioned that generally don't go into this level of detail. But we saw a pretty strong unit growth as we -- in the back half of the year. So it wasn't a sales-driven issue is really more of a retention-driven issue based on the factors that we talked about earlier in the call, i.e. just to go one level deeper, we all remember that one of the anomalies in the pandemic was that the business starts really, really accelerated. And I think to this day, (inaudible) completely explain it. And so we benefited from that unit growth. But as John said, we know a number of those clients are going to go out of business. And after 2 years, we did the analysis that we all looked at and a lot of those clients did not survive once the PPP and other government stimulus moving out of business. I'm sorry, once that stimulus was gone. So that's primarily a driver somewhat of an normal situation. I think that we'll return to more traditional patterns as we get into next year. That's our expectation.

是的，布萊恩，有兩個答案，約翰提到，通常不會詳細說明這一點。但我們在今年下半年看到了相當強勁的單位增長。因此，根據我們在電話會議之前討論的因素，這不是一個銷售驅動的問題，實際上更多的是一個保留驅動的問題，即，更深入一點，我們都記得，其中一個異常現象大流行的一個特點是，業務的啟動確實非常加速。我認為直到今天，（聽不清）完全解釋了它。因此，我們從單位增長中受益。但正如約翰所說，我們知道其中許多客戶將會倒閉。兩年後，我們進行了大家都關注的分析，發現一旦 PPP 和其他政府刺激措施停止運營，許多客戶就無法生存。對不起，一旦刺激消失了。所以這主要是一種正常情況下的驅動因素。我認為進入明年我們將回歸更傳統的模式。這是我們的期望。

Got it. And the guidance looks pretty consistent as you look at the revenue and the margins, you're not wildly off from the first half of the second half and sometimes there's bigger changes there. Any kind of key macro factors that you watch that we should be watching that could move it up or down that could change, at least maybe as we get into the second half as we think about the macro?

知道了。當你查看收入和利潤時，指導看起來非常一致，與上半年和下半年並沒有太大的偏差，有時會有更大的變化。您認為我們應該關注的任何類型的關鍵宏觀因素可能會導致價格上漲或下跌，這些因素可能會發生變化，至少可能在我們進入下半年時考慮宏觀因素？

Yes. I'll let John talk about it, too. But what I'd say, Bryan, is, look, everyone on the call was worried about a crash landing that will move through '23. And look, I mean, there was skepticism in the market as to whether we are going to be able to hit our numbers. We had some conversations with investors. I assured them with one thing that continues to be the factor that -- or the environment that we're seeing now, we're not seeing dramatic changes in the environment, and we would start to see them and exercise the appropriate level of caution that we did.

是的。我也讓約翰談談這件事。但布萊恩，我要說的是，聽著，參加電話會議的每個人都擔心 23 年後的緊急迫降。我的意思是，市場對我們是否能夠達到我們的目標持懷疑態度。我們與投資者進行了一些對話。我向他們保證一件事仍然是我們現在所看到的環境的因素，我們沒有看到環境發生巨大的變化，我們將開始看到它們並採取適當的謹慎態度我們做到了。

So we're going to look at what's the impact of these interest rates at this point. Small businesses seems to be absorbing them. They seem to be getting what they need to be able to fund their businesses. We don't think that will last forever. There are rates at which it's going to prove to be difficult. I would say what's happening on the macro is really important. The internal stuff, we can manage that. We will manage that. And as I said, too many people that look we have to pivot inside the base. There's a lot of opportunity inside the base. We'll pivot inside the base if the external environment doesn't give us opportunities for growth. John, do you want to add anything?

因此，我們現在要看看這些利率的影響是什麼。小企業似乎正在吸收它們。他們似乎得到了為他們的企業提供資金所需的一切。我們認為這種情況不會永遠持續下去。在某些情況下，這將被證明是困難的。我想說宏觀上發生的事情非常重要。內部的事情，我們可以管理。我們會處理好這一點。正如我所說，太多人認為我們必須在基地內部進行調整。基地裡有很多機會。如果外部環境不給我們發展機會，我們就會轉向基地內部。約翰，你想補充什麼嗎？

Yes. No, I think the other thing that I think to keep in mind a little bit about the macro. Again, we'll go back to the macro side. I look at our small business index, I look at the start of this calendar year, we went the first 3 months, the index actually went up every month. So it went up for 3 consecutive months, and then it sort of stabilized, so we continue to see that.

是的。不，我認為關於宏觀我認為要記住的另一件事。我們再次回到宏觀方面。我看看我們的小企業指數，我看看今年年初，我們前三個月，該指數實際上每個月都在上漲。所以它連續三個月上漲，然後趨於穩定，所以我們繼續看到這一點。

As Efrain said, we probably expected in the fourth quarter, and we're always kind of sitting here waiting for employment to go down in it, and in it. So actually, I would say, I was actually a little pleasantly surprised at where we were on checks and where we were on worksite employee growth inside the base of clients that we have.

正如埃弗萊恩所說，我們可能預計第四季度會出現這種情況，而且我們總是坐在這裡等待就業率下降。所以實際上，我想說，我對我們在支票上的情況以及我們在客戶群中的工作場所員工成長情況感到有點驚喜。

So continuing to see that hiring is also an issue and staffing continues to be an issue of our HR concern. So we look at what are the questions and issues that are coming into our HR consultants. We continue to see that to be an issue. And I do think you're going to see something interesting here that we've probably not seen. Small and midsized business owners are scarred by their experience of employment over the last several years and they thought to get back to staffing levels.

因此，繼續看到招聘也是一個問題，人員配備仍然是我們人力資源關注的問題。因此，我們會研究人力資源顧問提出的疑問和問題。我們仍然認為這是一個問題。我確實認為你會在這裡看到一些我們可能沒有見過的有趣的東西。中小型企業主對過去幾年的就業經歷感到震驚，他們希望恢復到人員配備水平。

And I think what's going to be interesting is they're going to be very hesitant to let go because I think they remember what it was like trying to find talent. And they're just simply not enough labor supply here. So I think it's going to be very interesting who kind of wins this tug of war back and forth relative to employment.

我認為有趣的是，他們會非常猶豫是否要放棄，因為我認為他們還記得尋找人才的感覺。而且這裡的勞動力供應根本不夠。所以我認為誰會贏得這場就業拉鋸戰將會非常有趣。

The other thing that we see is we're seeing a lot of nontraditional labor being tapped by businesses, big workers, contract workers, maybe a little bit more part time. What I'm curious about to see or will those be the first things to go, that before a small business owners going to let go permanent staffing that they've got, that they're paying every week, are they going to try to write it out by tightening in other areas such as this nontraditional gig employment that's kind of sprung up.

我們看到的另一件事是，我們看到企業正在利用大量非傳統勞動力，包括大工人、合同工，也許還有更多的兼職工人。我很好奇看到的是，或者這些是首先要做的事情，在小企業主放棄他們每週支付的固定員工之前，他們是否會嘗試通過收緊其他領域的政策來解決這個問題，比如這種非傳統的零工就業。

So the labor market is a very, very interesting thing, I think, for us to look at and study right now. And I don't think it sets up for traditional recessionary models that people have built. So that's just my pontification based upon my conversations with what we're hearing from clients and what we see in our data.

因此，我認為，勞動力市場對於我們現在來說是一個非常非常有趣的事情。我不認為它適合人們建立的傳統衰退模型。所以，這只是我根據我與客戶的談話以及我們在數據中看到的內容而做出的武斷。

Our next question will come from Scott Wurtzel with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Wolfe Research 的 Scott Wurtzel。

Just on the expense side, I wanted to see if you guys can just go over maybe what some of your top investment priorities are over the next 12 months and sort of folding into that how you're thinking about maybe incorporating generative AI into your business as well?

就費用方面而言，我想看看你們是否可以回顧一下未來 12 個月內你們的一些首要投資重點是什麼，以及你們如何考慮將生成式人工智能融入到你們的業務中還有？

Yes. So the investments are in growth, in growth. Those are probably the top 2. And then you mentioned digital. I mean we've been making a lot of investments in the digital area, both in terms of our sales and what we're doing from a go-to-market perspective, which we're very happy with and how we're leveraging technology, AI in the back office. And I'm very pleased with several things that we've got going on. So we've been actively leveraging AI for several years across every area of the business, driving efficiency, delivering a lot of our large clients.

是的。所以投資是為了增長，為了增長。這些可能是前兩個。然後你提到了數字化。我的意思是，我們一直在數字領域進行大量投資，無論是在我們的銷售方面還是從進入市場的角度來看我們所做的事情，我們對此以及我們如何利用這一點感到非常滿意技術，後台人工智能。我對我們正在進行的幾件事感到非常滿意。因此，多年來我們一直在各個業務領域積極利用人工智能，提高效率，為我們的許多大客戶提供服務。

And one of the things I keep telling people was we're one of the few players in this industry to have the size of the data set that we have. And I do think in these type of an AI, you've got to have a large data set. We're using it in customer service. We're using it in the risk. We're using it in finance. We're using it in our HR outsourcing advisory capacity. We're building it into our products, in our retention insights products. So there's a lot of investment that we're making and a lot of learnings that we have in terms of how we can digitize the front office and the front of house and kind of the back office of our business. And so that's going to be an area that we continue to invest and continue to explore.

我一直告訴人們的一件事是，我們是這個行業中為數不多的擁有如此規模數據集的參與者之一。我確實認為在這種類型的人工智能中，你必須擁有一個大的數據集。我們在客戶服務中使用它。我們在風險中使用它。我們在金融領域使用它。我們將其用於人力資源外包諮詢能力。我們正在將其構建到我們的產品中，即我們的保留洞察產品中。因此，我們正在進行大量投資，並在如何實現業務前台、前台和後台數字化方面學到了很多東西。因此，這將是我們繼續投資和探索的一個領域。

Got it. It's very helpful. And then, Efrain, just a quick clarification on the float income side with the guidance. So I'm wondering if you could maybe help us out with how you're thinking about client balance growth for the year?

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後，Efrain，我們通過指導對浮動收入方面進行了快速澄清。所以我想知道您是否可以幫助我們了解您如何看待今年的客戶餘額增長？

Client balance growth, roughly in line with wage inflation, which is to say, most of the business.

客戶餘額增長大致與工資通脹一致，也就是說，與大部分業務一致。

Our next question will come from Kartik Mehta with Northcoast Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Northcoast Research 的 Kartik Mehta。

Are you battling the smoke there in Cleveland, too?

您也在克利夫蘭與煙霧作鬥爭嗎？

Yesterday was a lot worse than it is today. So it's a little bit better today, but thank you for asking, Efrain. I'm wondering just on paper control, Efrain, I know they've come down obviously from pretty high levels. And I'm wondering if -- what your expectations are for FY '24, not only for the payroll business, but also the PEO and if you're seeing anything different?

昨天的情況比今天糟糕很多。所以今天好一點了，但謝謝你的提問，Efrain。我只是想知道紙張控制，Efrain，我知道他們顯然已經從相當高的水平下降了。我想知道您對 24 財年的期望是什麼，不僅是薪資業務，還有 PEO，以及您是否看到任何不同？

Yes, 2 good questions. So flattish, I guess, is the short answer to what we expect for '24. Don't expect too much in terms of in client-based growth, and that's a mix. I think our larger clients are doing fine and in some cases, adding employees who look at it. Smaller, smaller clients, less so and then you got to factor in what your interstate losses are. So you always tend to move a little bit higher than what you gain in a given year, and then you expect your in-clients, the base to grow the work on employed. But this is an environment where I don't think it's going to be robust.

是的，兩個好問題。我想，這就是我們對 24 世紀的期望的簡短答案。不要對基於客戶的增長抱有太多期望，這是一個混合因素。我認為我們的大客戶做得很好，在某些情況下，還增加了關注它的員工。越來越小的客戶，越來越少，然後你必須考慮你的州際損失。因此，你總是傾向於比你在特定年份獲得的收入高一點，然後你期望你的客戶內，即增加就業工作的基礎。但我認為這種環境不會很穩健。

In terms of hiring in part as to what John said earlier, which is that many businesses would like to hire that just as they weren't the people who were there -- were available and also figured out how to do it without people, but they probably will be, as John mentioned, less inclined to perhaps get rid of them. On the PEO, and I'd say also the ASO side, our worksite employee, we have worksite employ growth.

在招聘方面，部分正如約翰之前所說的那樣，許多企業都願意僱用這樣的人，因為他們不是當時在場的人，而且也知道如何在沒有人的情況下做到這一點，但是正如約翰提到的，他們可能不太願意擺脫它們。在 PEO 方面，我想說的是 ASO 方面，即我們的工作場所員工，我們的工作場所就業人數有所增長。

This year, we expect that to continue into next year. You could see solid worksite employee growth as we rebound going into next year. But overall, and I think that Bryan asked these questions, it's not going to be a significant driver of revenue growth. Perhaps in PEO, but not on the HCM side.

今年，我們預計這種情況將持續到明年。隨著明年我們的反彈，您可以看到工作場所員工的穩健增長。但總的來說，我認為布萊恩提出了這些問題，這不會成為收入增長的重要推動力。也許在 PEO 方面，但在 HCM 方面則不然。

And then just one follow-up. John, I'd be interested in your thoughts on kind of job openings. We see all these numbers, [Joe's] numbers, but it seems like employers have become cautious. So just your perspective on what you really think job openings are as you look at your customers versus maybe what we see in the news?

然後只有一個後續行動。約翰，我對你對職位空缺的想法很感興趣。我們看到所有這些數字，[喬的]數字，但雇主似乎變得謹慎起來。那麼，當您觀察客戶時，您對職位空缺的真實看法與我們在新聞中看到的情況有何不同？

Yes, Kartik. Go back to what I said before. We continue to have clients that are wanting to fill open positions and I don't -- I'm not seeing that change. I would say that they're being more successful in filling those positions. So we've certainly seen that, and we've seen some recovery. I mentioned regional hospitality in particular, which was well behind and had good recovery in the back half of our fiscal year here. I do think relative to not maybe opening up as many positions, I would also tell you that one of the things that I think did happen is when we were in the great resignation, which was probably 18 months ago.

是的，卡提克。回到我之前說的。我們仍然有客戶想要填補空缺職位，但我沒有——我沒有看到這種變化。我想說他們在填補這些職位方面更加成功。所以我們當然已經看到了這一點，並且我們已經看到了一些復甦。我特別提到了地區酒店業，該地區的酒店業在本財年後半段遠遠落後，並且恢復良好。我確實認為，相對於可能不會開設那麼多職位，我還要告訴你，我認為確實發生​​的事情之一是我們處於大辭職時期，這可能是 18 個月前。

It seems like forever now, but really only 18 months ago. Pretty much a lot of business owners were thinking every position I have needs to be posted because I've got to assume that I'm going to potentially lose those positions. So I think there was a lot of postings for jobs that people were passively looking for. And I think some of the contraction that we've seen in the postings are more business owners being a little more disciplined about what am I actually going to hire and being out in the market and focused on that. I don't know if that makes sense or helps you.

現在看起來似乎永遠如此，但實際上只是 18 個月前。幾乎很多企業主都認為我的每個職位都需要發布，因為我必須假設我可能會失去這些職位。所以我認為有很多工作崗位是人們被動尋找的。我認為我們在帖子中看到的一些收縮是更多的企業主對我實際要雇用的人員更加嚴格，並在市場上關注這一點。我不知道這是否有意義或對你有幫助。

It does. Thank you both. I fully appreciate it.

確實如此。謝謝你倆。我非常感激。

I may add that those individuals who are using our onboarding and recruiting experience in Flex are realizing about a 20% improvement in their time to higher. So just if there's any customers or prospects on the phone.

我想補充一點，那些在 Flex 中使用我們的入職和招聘經驗的人發現，他們的晉升時間縮短了約 20%。因此，只要有任何客戶或潛在客戶在打電話。

Our next question will come from Eugene Simuni with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題將由尤金·西穆尼和莫菲特·內森森提出。

I wanted to ask a question about the PEO. So kind of we expected kind of the deceleration here. And you highlighted again insurance, health care insurance attach rates as one of the drivers. So was wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on that, kind of where are you seeing softness in health care insurance attached? What kind of businesses, I think that will be helpful to hear just because there's so much variability about around, I feel like the PEO industry in terms of this health care insurance rate attach.

我想問一個關於 PEO 的問題。我們預計這裡會出現減速。您再次強調保險、醫療保險附加費率是驅動因素之一。所以想知道您是否可以詳細說明一下，您在哪裡看到醫療保險的軟弱性？我認為聽到什麼樣的企業會有幫助，因為周圍有太多的可變性，我覺得就醫療保險費率附加而言，PEO 行業是這樣的。

And it would be helpful to hear specifically in your client base what you're seeing? And then related to that, as we are looking for the reacceleration in the PEO and as you're kind of guiding to that, what gives you confidence that this -- there will be a pivot there over the next 12 months?

專門聽聽您的客戶群中您所看到的情況會有所幫助嗎？與此相關的是，當我們正在尋求 PEO 的重新加速並且您對此進行指導時，是什麼讓您有信心在未來 12 個月內將出現一個關鍵點？

Eugene, let me start and then John will provide additional comments. With us, it's less about verticals, although I'll caveat that with a second. It's really more about where we derive revenue on the health care side that flows through the P&L, and that's the state of Florida. So for us, on the PEO health care as it relates to revenue, really, it's the Florida game primarily. And the anomaly -- and when you talk about Florida, you know immediately that you're going to over index on leisure and hospitality.

尤金，讓我開始，然後約翰將提供補充意見。對於我們來說，垂直方向的影響較小，儘管我會再警告一下。更重要的是我們在醫療保健方面從何處獲得收入並流經損益表，這就是佛羅里達州。因此，對於我們來說，在與收入相關的 PEO 醫療保健方面，實際上，主要是佛羅里達州的比賽。反常現像是，當您談論佛羅里達州時，您立即就會知道您將過度關注休閒和酒店業。

So a bit of what's going on is it depends on what new clients coming into the base are and whether customers and leader in hospitality are really interested in offering health care clients, a number of them do. And that's not all clients in Florida to be fair, that's probably too much of a generalization. But there was more of a regional issue than it was, I'd say, as it affected revenue than it was something else.

因此，發生的事情取決於進入基地的新客戶是什麼，以及客戶和酒店業領導者是否真的有興趣為醫療保健客戶提供服務，其中許多人確實有興趣。公平地說，這並不是佛羅里達州的所有客戶，這可能過於籠統。但我想說，區域問題比實際情況更嚴重，因為它對收入的影響大於其他問題。

So why do we feel more comfortable? Because we have put a tremendous amount of focus on it. And that's not to say that guarantee success, but I would say, as we saw what was going on, we took a lot of measures to improve that aren't going to necessarily again be evident in the first quarter but should be evident beyond that. And there were things in which we've talked about in prior calls.

那麼為什麼我們會感覺更舒服呢？因為我們對此投入了大量的精力。這並不是說保證成功，但我想說，正如我們看到正在發生的事情一樣，我們採取了很多措施來改進，這些措施不一定會在第一季度再次顯現出來，但在之後應該會很明顯。我們在之前的電話中討論過一些事情。

I will repeat, there were some anomalous that we saw people actually in the PEO decided they didn't want health care insurance. We thought our hypothesis was that they were feeling some pressure from a wage perspective and perhaps despite of that from a total compensation perspective, they were not going to offer health care. But we've taken a number of actions that we think will create better momentum going into next year. I'll let John talk about that -- talk about that issue.

我要重複一遍，我們看到 PEO 中的人實際上決定不想要醫療保險，這有些反常現象。我們認為我們的假設是，從工資的角度來看，他們感受到了一些壓力，也許儘管從總薪酬的角度來看，他們不會提供醫療保健。但我們已經採取了一些行動，我們認為這些行動將為明年創造更好的勢頭。我會讓約翰談談這個問題。

Yes. No, not much to add, Eugene. I do think it's important to understand on the insurance component, there was a trend that we saw happened not just in the field, but also in our insurance agencies. In the health and benefits area, which it's not just the client. There's 2 decision points here. One is the client deciding they're going to offer benefits. And second is an employee deciding they're going to enroll and play their fair share. And we saw in both cases that the clients, particularly clients, less clients were adding an insurance.

是的。不，沒什麼可補充的，尤金。我確實認為了解保險部分很重要，我們看到的趨勢不僅發生在該領域，而且發生在我們的保險機構中。在健康和福利領域，不僅僅是客戶。這裡有 2 個決策點。一是客戶決定他們要提供福利。其次，員工決定參加並發揮自己的公平份額。我們在這兩種情況下都看到客戶，特別是客戶，較少的客戶增加了保險。

That's one part of it, right? You certainly can go and try and get someone to switch from their existing insurance. We saw less people adding insured health insurance as an option. And then when you look inside, when we went through our normal enrollment period, we found that less of the employees that were offered insurance elected to sign up for it. And so all the things Efrain just said, we saw that happen in both areas.

這是其中的一部分，對嗎？您當然可以嘗試讓某人放棄現有的保險。我們看到越來越少的人將健康保險作為一種選擇。然後當你往裡面看時，當我們經歷正常的投保期時，我們發現獲得保險的員工中選擇投保的人越來越少。因此，埃夫拉因剛才所說的所有事情，我們都看到這在兩個領域都發生了。

That caused us to go back and what you can do is you can go back and look at your plan designs, you can look at leaner plans, you can look at different plans, all of those things. We went through an exhaustive review of every one of our core PO markets to look at every one of our plan designs and look at every one of our offerings to make sure we have the broadest suite.

這導致我們回去，你能做的就是你可以回去看看你的計劃設計，你可以看看更精簡的計劃，你可以看看不同的計劃，所有這些事情。我們對每一個核心 PO 市場進行了詳盡的審查，檢查了我們的每一項計劃設計並檢查了我們的每一項產品，以確保我們擁有最廣泛的套件。

Now those decisions are made. We're actively out in the market selling clients on those today. Those will go in, in the July time frame, if you will. And remember, our enrollment for PO begins in that July time frame, it really goes through the January time frame. So you won't see kind of that pickup of that going on. So we look at every aspect of it. We've made some modifications and changes where we think it makes sense.

現在這些決定已經做出了。今天，我們正在積極向市場上的客戶銷售這些產品。如果你願意的話，這些將在七月的時間範圍內進行。請記住，我們的 PO 註冊是從 7 月的時間範圍開始的，實際上是經過 1 月的時間範圍。所以你不會看到這種情況的發生。所以我們會考慮它的各個方面。我們在我們認為有意義的地方進行了一些修改和更改。

We know that the HR outsourcing value proposition is still strong because it's growing at 10%, and we saw strong demand in the second half of the year. We know that the PO value proposition is strong because of our record retention and the clients that can't afford it and have it are doing well. So we have reason to believe there was some early signs, as I said earlier, in the fourth quarter of improvement there. And now we're getting into the heart of it, and we'll see that kind of build as we go into the second, third and fourth quarter of this coming fiscal year. So again, we got -- we feel confident that we have the right plans in place and now we'll go out and execute that in the marketplace and see how it goes.

我們知道，人力資源外包的價值主張仍然強勁，因為它的增長率為 10%，而且我們在下半年看到了強勁的需求。我們知道 PO 的價值主張很強大，因為我們保留了記錄，而那些買不起但擁有它的客戶卻表現得很好。因此，我們有理由相信，正如我之前所說，第四季度出現了一些改善的早期跡象。現在我們正在進入它的核心，當我們進入本財年的第二、第三和第四季度時，我們將看到這種建設。所以，我們再次重申，我們相信我們已經制定了正確的計劃，現在我們將在市場上執行該計劃，看看效果如何。

Got it. Super helpful. And then a quick follow-up on some of the comments you made earlier on retention bookings and client growth to title together. So when we're thinking about your guidance for next fiscal year and Efrain, you mentioned that you expect client growth to pick up from the kind of 1.5% level with so this year, would that be a result of both improved retention and improved sales? Or is it primarily one or the other that will drive the improvement in client growth?

知道了。超級有幫助。然後快速跟進您之前就保留預訂和客戶增長發表的一些評論，以共同標題。因此，當我們考慮您對下一財年和 Efrain 的指導時，您提到您預計今年的客戶增長將從 1.5% 的水平回升，這是否是保留率提高和銷售額提高的結果？或者主要是其中之一將推動客戶增長的改善？

No, you got to do both. I mean, we're relying on one -- long story short, both sides of that equation have pretty powerful incentives to make sure that they occur. You hit it 100%, sometimes you hit it more. But you've got to get both sides to work to get the right net client gain number.

不，你必須兩者都做。我的意思是，我們依賴於一個——長話短說，這個等式的雙方都有相當強大的動機來確保它們發生。你100%擊中了它，有時你擊中了更多。但你必須讓雙方共同努力才能獲得正確的淨客戶收益數字。

Yes, and I'll add on to that. Again, I would say the second half was stronger than the first half from a sales unit perspective. And if you dig under our retention numbers first half to second half, our controllable losses improved in the second half. So again, what we can control. And I do believe that there's a degree of what I call flushing out of the bankruptcies from 2 years ago in terms of us looking at clients that are kind of on the financial edge and whether or not we want to continue to -- or feel confident we can continue to do business with them.

是的，我會補充這一點。再說一次，我想說，從銷售單位的角度來看，下半年比上半年更強。如果你仔細研究我們上半年和下半年的保留數據，我們的可控損失在下半年有所改善。再說一遍，我們可以控制什麼。我確實相信，從我們尋找處於財務邊緣的客戶以及我們是否想繼續或有信心的角度來看，兩年前的破產在一定程度上已經擺脫了困境我們可以繼續與他們做生意。

Those type of things are kind of flushed out of the system. We've been investing a lot in what we can do to control what we can control regardless of the environment. We talked about AI. We've been deploying a lot of very sophisticated AI models inside our service organization and inside our client base that are giving us very strong indications of where we may have a client and risk and we're demonstrating success and demonstrate success in the back half of the year of being able to intercept those and turn those situations in the positive retention story. So when I look at the retention story and the sales story first half, back half of last fiscal year, I feel good about the progress we're making there.

這類事情已經被從系統中清除了。我們已經在我們可以做的事情上投入了大量資金，以控制我們可以控制的事情，無論環境如何。我們談論了人工智能。我們已經在我們的服務組織和客戶群內部部署了許多非常複雜的人工智能模型，這些模型為我們提供了非常有力的指示，表明我們可能在哪裡擁有客戶和風險，並且我們正在展示成功並在後半部分展示成功今年能夠攔截這些情況並將這些情況轉變為積極的保留故事。因此，當我查看上一財年上半年和下半年的保留情況和銷售情況時，我對我們在這方面取得的進展感到滿意。

Our next question will come from Peter Christiansen with Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題將來自花旗集團的彼得·克里斯蒂安森。

Efrain, I was curious about the portfolio repositioning and I know it wasn't too large, but should we expect, I guess, future maybe operating outperformance to be reinvested for portfolio repositioning, maybe layering into rates faster? And then as a follow-up to that, maybe looking at prior cycles, is there a relationship between interest rates and competitive pricing? I would imagine this float income becomes more a bigger part of the business model that gives more leeway for competitors to be more aggressive on the pricing side. Any comments there would be helpful.

Efrain，我對投資組合重新定位感到好奇，我知道它並不太大，但我猜，我們是否應該預期，未來的運營表現可能會重新投資於投資組合重新定位，也許會更快地分層？然後作為後續行動，也許看看之前的周期，利率和競爭性定價之間是否存在關係？我認為這種浮動收入將成為商業模式的重要組成部分，為競爭對手在定價方面更加激進提供更多餘地。那裡的任何評論都會有幫助。

Those are 2 absolutely fantastic questions. Literally, I mean, wow. Okay. So let me take one. Part of what you do, part of what you work with the team is to understand what you need to deliver and understand what your degrees of freedom in delivering them are. When you perform at a certain level, you have more degrees of freedom, not surprising. So it's all my colleague CFOs out there, who struggle sometimes because they don't have the degrees of freedom, I feel you.

這是兩個絕對精彩的問題。從字面上看，我的意思是，哇。好的。那麼讓我拿一張吧。你所做的工作、與團隊合作的一部分就是了解你需要交付什麼，並了解你交付這些交付的自由度是多少。當你表現到一定水平時，你就有了更多的自由度，這並不奇怪。所以，我的首席財務官同事們有時會因為沒有自由度而陷入困境，我能感受到你們的感受。

When you do have the opportunity to reposition because performance gives you that option. You look at it and you figure out, we're pretty disciplined here is the NPV of doing that better than the NPV of not doing that. And so in the fourth quarter, we thought there was a positive NPV to that approach. Would we do it in the future? I'd have to see. There's other (inaudible) issues that come into play, which is how much -- what do you want your max duration to be and are you picking the right time. You never get it right. because we're trying to predict other behaviors, but I think that we've done a good job.

當你確實有機會重新定位時，因為性能給了你這個選擇。你看看它，你就會發現，我們在這裡非常有紀律，這樣做的淨現值比不這樣做的淨現值更好。因此，在第四季度，我們認為這種方法有積極的淨現值。我們將來會這樣做嗎？我一定要看看。還有其他（聽不清）問題正在發揮作用，即您希望最大持續時間是多少以及您是否選擇了正確的時間。你永遠不會做對。因為我們正在嘗試預測其他行為，但我認為我們做得很好。

To your point, this is really kind of the interesting question that we're wrestling with. So we don't know. I can give you a sense of what happens when interest rates get to 6%. I know because I studied that pretty extensively when I came into the job now 12 years ago. And 2 things you got to worry about or be concerned about there. Number 1 is that you can attempt to be pretty aggressive on pricing in that kind of environment. So the interest rates are high. You can take it as a signal the price high.

就您而言，這確實是我們正在努力解決的一個有趣的問題。所以我們不知道。我可以讓你了解當利率達到 6% 時會發生什麼。我之所以知道這一點，是因為 12 年前我入職時，我對此進行了廣泛的研究。還有兩件事是你必須擔心或擔心的。第一，在這種環境下，你可以嘗試非常激進的定價。所以利率很高。您可以將其視為價格高的信號。

But what I find at least in our history was when you did that, when you get that overly aggressive in pricing in '07, '08, you're going to pay a price on retention. It just is -- it follows. And at least that's a conviction that I have. Now maybe you leave some money on the table by not pricing even more aggressively. But I think that there's a balancing that there for clients because you're trying to create a level of trust in terms of the value that you delivered to them, and there is a tipping point at which that level of trust gets breached. So we need to look at that closely.

但我至少在我們的歷史中發現，當你這樣做時，當你在 07 年、08 年定價過於激進時，你將為保留付出代價。事實就是如此。至少這是我的信念。現在，如果您不採取更激進的定價，也許會留下一些錢。但我認為，對於客戶來說，存在一個平衡點，因為你試圖根據你向他們提供的價值建立一定程度的信任，並且存在一個臨界點，在這個臨界點上，這種信任程度會被破壞。所以我們需要仔細研究這一點。

The second part is as interest rates are now creeping up, if they were to go over 6%, now that starts to become a threshold where it becomes more difficult for small businesses and many medium-sized businesses to operate from a financing perspective. They got to look for other options. That's one thing, by the way, that we're looking at very closely, how do we help clients. ERTC was a great example of how we did that this year. That's why we think it did so well within the base. But you got to play those 2 elements off each other in determining what the price and how to help the clients navigate to an environment where interest rates are high. So hopefully, that answers your question.

第二部分是，由於利率現在正在攀升，如果利率超過 6%，那麼這將開始成為一個門檻，從融資的角度來看，小型企業和許多中型企業的運營變得更加困難。他們必須尋找其他選擇。順便說一句，這是我們正在密切關注的一件事，即我們如何幫助客戶。 ERTC 就是我們今年的做法的一個很好的例子。這就是為什麼我們認為它在基地內表現得如此出色。但是，在確定價格以及如何幫助客戶適應高利率環境時，您必須將這兩個因素相互結合起來。希望這能回答你的問題。

Yes, it certainly does. The balance, yes, that's certainly a challenge. I'd imagine. I don't envy you, but thanks for the insight. Very helpful.

是的，確實如此。是的，平衡確實是一個挑戰。我想。我不羨慕你，但謝謝你的洞察力。很有幫助。

Our next question comes from Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的黃天欽。

John, Efrain, I just want to ask on PEO. Again, I know it's growing in line with peers in the quarter here. You're looking for some acceleration. You talked through that with Eugene. How much of the acceleration again, just to simplify it is coming from volume versus rate versus mix? Just want to make sure I understand the components.

John、Efrain，我只想問一下 PEO 的問題。同樣，我知道它的增長與本季度的同行一致。您正在尋找一些加速。你和尤金談過這件事。為了簡單起見，有多少加速來自數量、速率與混合？只是想確保我理解這些組件。

Well, I'll take that, Tien-tsin. So look, I want to kind of clarify something to start, which is that we have worked on employee growth in the PEO. It's not as though we contracted in that area. We think we're off to a pretty strong start actually in terms of at least our bookings activity. But we expect relative to last year for health care attachment to be higher than it was, the contribution from health care that will be higher than it was last year. We just couldn't hit the numbers that we had last year, but we had also seen simultaneously that the base business in admin was going down. This is very difficult, challenging.

好吧，我會接受的，田津。所以，我想先澄清一些事情，那就是我們在 PEO 中致力於員工成長。我們並沒有在那個地區簽訂合同。我們認為，至少在預訂活動方面，我們實際上已經有了一個相當強勁的開端。但我們預計，相對於去年，醫療保健依存度將高於去年，醫療保健的貢獻也將高於去年。我們只是無法達到去年的數字，但我們同時也看到管理方面的基礎業務正在下降。這是非常困難的，具有挑戰性的。

So we expect growth in the business, growth in client. We expect growth in attachment that's really kind of driving the at least less so, Tien-Tsin. I think that's less of an issue. Typically, just to remind everyone our PEO points are typically upper 20s to low 30s in terms of clients. We're not trying to go down stream necessarily, but it's really going to come from more clients better help to attach.

因此，我們期望業務增長，客戶增長。我們預計依戀的增長確實會推動至少不那麼如此，Tien-Tsin。我認為這不是一個問題。通常，只是提醒大家，就客戶而言，我們的 PEO 點通常在 20 多分到 30 多分之間。我們並不一定要嘗試順流而下，但它確實會來自更多客戶更好的幫助。

And we're just really not expecting any type of major pricing increases either on the health side or on the general and administrative fee side. I mean it's going to be well within our normal course. Although I would mention that on the health care side, our normal course is in the single digits, which far beeps on a historical basis, what health care inflation is. So that's a benefit and a retention benefit for our clients.

我們真的不希望在健康方面或在一般和管理費用方面出現任何類型的重大價格上漲。我的意思是，這一切都會在我們的正常進程範圍內進行。儘管我要提到的是，在醫療保健方面，我們的正常進程是個位數，這在歷史基礎上遠遠超出了醫療保健通脹的範圍。因此，這對我們的客戶來說是一種好處，也是一種保留好處。

The other thing I probably, we haven't talked about that we have a thesis around is that we had very good HR outsourcing growth. And one of the things that we saw because of the insurance anomaly was a tilt towards our ASO product. And so when you look on the aggregate, we have a very, very solid year. Our HR outsourcing offerings, ASO and the managed service side and PEO, but we tilted towards one versus the other.

我可能沒有討論過的另一件事是，我們有非常好的人力資源外包增長。由於保險異常，我們看到的一件事是向我們的 ASO 產品傾斜。因此，從總體來看，我們度過了非常非常充實的一年。我們的人力資源外包產品、ASO、託管服務方和 PEO，但我們偏向其中一種。

We're actually -- we actually -- I look at that now and say, wait a minute, I now have more clients that love our technology, love our (inaudible) -- and now it's just a matter of finding the right health care solution going back and upselling them into the POS. We have a pretty concentrated efforts on that. Actually, that's another area where we're using AI, where we are actually analyzing the deduction fees from existing payroll and ASO customers so that we can triangulate what we think they are currently paying for health care.

我們實際上 - 我們實際上 - 我現在看著這個並說，等一下，我現在有更多的客戶喜歡我們的技術，喜歡我們的（聽不清） - 現在這只是找到正確健康的問題護理液返回並在 POS 中追加銷售。我們在這方面投入了相當多的精力。實際上，這是我們使用人工智能的另一個領域，我們實際上正在分析現有工資和 ASO 客戶的扣除費用，以便我們可以三角測量我們認為他們目前支付的醫療保健費用。

And then using the demographic data that we have to do some AI-based underwriting to give us a computer-based targeted list of clients that we can approach with a really almost prepackaged value proposition that says, "Hey, we think we can help you save money on your insurance if you join our PO, you're already an ASO client of ours." So we're just getting -- we've been working on that model for 9 months as part of our efforts. And that's an area, too, that we think there's opportunity inside our base to go back with our new insurance value proposition in the PO and see if we can't move some clients over.

然後使用我們必須進行一些基於人工智能的承保的人口統計數據，為我們提供基於計算機的目標客戶列表，我們可以通過幾乎預先包裝的價值主張來接觸該列表，該主張說：“嘿，我們認為我們可以幫助您如果您加入我們的 PO，您就可以節省保險費用，因為您已經是我們的 ASO 客戶。”因此，作為我們努力的一部分，我們已經在該模型上工作了 9 個月。這也是一個領域，我們認為我們的基礎內部有機會回顧 PO 中新的保險價值主張，看看我們是否不能轉移一些客戶。

Good. And that's the beauty of Paychex having both ASO and PEO. So I guess as my follow-up, any change in your appetite on the whole self-insured versus the fully guaranteed PEO model to the extent that you can better maybe control the insurance packages? And I know Efrain is probably thinking I'm trying to trick you guys to answer the consolidation question, but I'll ask it too. So right appetite to do acquisitions on the PEO side, I know it's been, what, 5 years since you did Oasis. You said tuck-ins, but I know there's been some news in the market around consolidation or I know that probably is a multiplied question, so I'm on the bad guys there.

好的。這就是 Paychex 同時擁有 ASO 和 PEO 的美妙之處。所以我想作為我的後續行動，您對整體自我保險與完全保證 PEO 模式的偏好是否會發生變化，以至於您可以更好地控制保險套餐？我知道埃弗萊恩可能認為我試圖欺騙你們回答合併問題，但我也會問這個問題。因此，在 PEO 方面進行收購的興趣是正確的，我知道距離您收購 Oasis 已經過去 5 年了。你說的是折騰，但我知道市場上有一些關於整合的消息，或者我知道這可能是一個多重問題，所以我站在壞人那裡。

Let me answer the first one. I get that question and I think investors are sensitive to the level of balance sheet risk. So when we originally did this a number of years ago, I said I don't want to be reporting quarters when we blow up the balance sheet because we were doing the wrong things on the insurance side. I don't think (inaudible). What I mean by that is just taking excessive risk. So everyone knows what they get when they invest in the company, we have managed that without any hiccup because 2 things help us.

我來回答第一個問題。我收到這個問題，我認為投資者對資產負債表風險水平很敏感。因此，當我們幾年前最初這樣做時，我說我不想在我們炸毀資產負債表時報告季度，因為我們在保險方面做了錯誤的事情。我不認為（聽不清）。我的意思是承擔過度的風險。所以每個人都知道他們投資公司時會得到什麼，我們成功地做到了這一點，因為有兩件事對我們有幫助。

One is that even though we go at risk, we don't make money. We make a little money on health care insurance and that removes the incentive to necessarily push insurance, chief insurances away selling PEO. That's a fool's game. We don't play it. We'll never play it. Having said that, as we get to a certain density in markets and many of the people in the core mill, what the big markets are. When we look at that, we evaluate whether going at risk and insurance in a market won't make sense. I won't forestall that we would not, but it will be subject to the same type criteria.

一是即使我們冒風險，我們也賺不到錢。我們在醫療保險上賺了一點錢，這消除了必然推動保險、首席保險出售 PEO 的動機。那是個傻瓜遊戲。我們不玩它。我們永遠不會玩它。話雖如此，當我們達到一定的市場密度和核心工廠的許多人時，大市場是什麼。當我們審視這一點時，我們會評估市場中的冒險和保險是否沒有意義。我不會預先聲明我們不會，但它將受到相同類型標準的約束。

And the other part is that the reason for doing it would not be necessarily to increase revenue, but for us to capture share in that market. So nothing imminent, but that's our thought process. I think we've got of a track record in terms of managing it in an appropriate way. I'll let John talk to PEO and M&A.

另一部分是，這樣做的原因不一定是為了增加收入，而是為了我們佔領該市場的份額。所以沒有什麼迫在眉睫的事情，但這就是我們的思考過程。我認為我們在以適當的方式管理它方面擁有良好的記錄。我會讓約翰與 PEO 和併購部門談談。

Yes. Just to add to that, I don't think that our current approach to insurance in the PO was a driver to what we saw last year. And so I don't think taking more risk is necessarily the solution I think that our current approach has demonstrated that we can grow at industry rates without exposing ourselves to additional risk. And so to Efrain's point, I don't see that as a magic bullet. I don't think you need that to grow the PO value proposition to Efrain's point, to the degree in which we thought it could accelerate growth in some way and the risk to be balanced, it's something to consider, but not something that we're looking at.

是的。補充一點，我不認為我們目前在 PO 中的保險方法是我們去年看到的情況的驅動因素。因此，我認為承擔更多風險不一定是解決方案，我認為我們目前的方法已經證明，我們可以以行業速度增長，而不會讓自己面臨額外的風險。因此，就埃夫拉因的觀點而言，我並不認為這是靈丹妙藥。我認為你不需要將 PO 價值主張發展到 Efrain 的觀點，達到我們認為它可以以某種方式加速增長的程度，並且平衡風險，這是需要考慮的事情，但不是我們的事情。正在看。

I mean I think in terms of the PEO M&A front, we haven't done much in 5 years. It's obviously a very attractive industry for private equities to pay very high multiples for which for my opinion, not much capability. When we made the acquisition of Oasis, we were looking at both getting significant scale in the PEO and capability, we got that with Oasis. We were typically a smaller kind of regional PEO, not, and we knew we needed to national scale to get there. We're now the top player in the industry.

我的意思是，我認為在 PEO 併購方面，我們 5 年來沒有做太多事情。對於私募股權公司來說，這顯然是一個非常有吸引力的行業，可以支付非常高的市盈率，但在我看來，私募股權公司的能力並不強。當我們收購 Oasis 時，我們希望在 PEO 和能力方面獲得顯著的規模，我們通過 Oasis 做到了這一點。我們通常是規模較小的區域性 PEO，但事實並非如此，我們知道我們需要在全國范圍內實現這一目標。我們現在是行業中的頂尖企業。

So I think what we would be looking for is tuck-ins in markets where that makes sense. If we were going to add a capability, right, but a capability in terms of something different in the PEO, that's interesting, but again, what I continue to see is we're involved and know about almost every deal in the industry, I still think the multiples are a little high for what they would bring value, and we have enough organic and inside the base opportunity for us to continue to invest our dollars in.

因此，我認為我們所尋求的是在有意義的市場中進行投資。如果我們要增加一項能力，對吧，但在 PEO 中增加一項不同的能力，這很有趣，但我繼續看到的是，我們參與並了解該行業的幾乎每筆交易，我仍然認為，就其帶來的價值而言，市盈率有點高，而且我們有足夠的有機和內部基礎機會讓我們繼續投資。

Our next question comes from James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福賽特。

Just a couple of quick follow-ups for me. On the out-of-business commentary, I understand kind of the conditions there where you maybe were below normal during the height of the pandemic, and that's normalizing. I'm just wondering if right now you would characterize that out of business run rate as being more elevated still? Or does it kind of come back more into line with what you would expect to be kind of normal?

對我來說只是幾個快速跟進。關於停業評論，我理解在大流行最嚴重的時候，那裡的情況可能低於正常水平，而這正在正常化。我只是想知道您現在是否會將停業率描述為更高？或者它是否更符合您所期望的正常情況？

It's back to normal. And again, I go back to say it's back to normal pre-pandemic '19, which, again, were at reasonably historically low levels for us if you went back historically before that. So look, there was a big surge in new business starts right at the start of the pandemic, and we knew in our models whether or not there was a recession, whether or not interest rates were 1% or 6%. Those businesses, a fair number, then we're not going to survive after 2 years. And so we didn't know whenever is going to come, but I think we knew it was going to come. I think we've seen that begin to flesh through. We've kind of returned back to what I would say are more normal business start levels.

已經恢復正常了。我再說一遍，這又回到了 19 年大流行前的正常水平，如果你回顧一下之前的歷史，對我們來說，這又處於歷史上相當低的水平。所以看，大流行一開始，新業務就出現了大幅增長，我們在模型中知道是否存在經濟衰退，無論利率是 1% 還是 6%。這些企業數量相當多，那麼我們在兩年後就無法生存。所以我們不知道什麼時候會到來，但我想我們知道它會到來。我想我們已經看到這一點開始變得充實。我們已經回到了我所說的更正常的業務開始水平。

And again, business starts are still reasonably solid. We're not seeing a different business starts again. There was a big spike. We're now back to where we were kind of pre-pandemic, which again were very, very solid and conducive numbers for growth in our business before the pandemic.

再說一次，業務開工仍然相當穩健。我們沒有看到不同的業務再次開始。出現了一個大尖峰。我們現在又回到了大流行前的水平，這對於我們在大流行之前的業務增長來說又是非常非常可靠和有利的數字。

Yes. Yes. No, that makes sense. I appreciate that. And then just a quick question to make sure that we're thinking about business sensitivities correctly. If we were to see macro deteriorate further, which of the underlying vertical, whether it be payroll, HCM software, retirement, ASO management solutions would be hit hardest versus what would be most resilient? I think we have some ideas there, but I just want to make sure we're thinking about that correctly.

是的。是的。不，這是有道理的。我很感激。然後是一個簡單的問題，以確保我們正確考慮業務敏感性。如果我們看到宏觀經濟進一步惡化，那麼哪個基礎垂直領域（無論是薪資、HCM 軟件、退休、ASO 管理解決方案）將受到最嚴重的打擊，而哪些是最具彈性的？我認為我們有一些想法，但我只是想確保我們的想法是正確的。

Yes. I'd say -- so you got 2 points of comparison kind of what happened in 2007 and 2008 and then what happened during the pandemic. What we saw again the pandemic was that -- on the PEO side, PEO, our base, at least, a PEO client-shed employees more quickly. It was -- I was surprised by the speed with which they did it. I think you'd see more of an impact there on the PEO if you saw more of a sharp downturn. A garden variety of softness? Probably not.

是的。我想說——所以你可以對 2007 年和 2008 年發生的事情以及大流行期間發生的事情進行兩點比較。我們在疫情中再次看到的是——在 PEO 方面，PEO，至少是我們的基礎，PEO 客戶更快地裁員。我對他們做這件事的速度感到驚訝。我認為，如果你看到更多的急劇下滑，你會看到對 PEO 的影響更大。花園般的柔軟？可能不是。

And then second, James, it will see but if we go back certainly to the pandemic, you saw employers start to shed clients -- shed employees, I should say, shed employees interestingly enough, or it was a little bit anomalous during the pandemic, but we didn't see huge client losses, but we did see them drop employees. And so then you see that impact.

第二，詹姆斯，它會看到，但如果我們肯定回到大流行，你會看到雇主開始裁員——我應該說，裁員很有趣，或者在大流行期間有點反常，但我們沒有看到巨大的客戶流失，但我們確實看到他們裁員。然後你就會看到這種影響。

I'd remind everyone that our model is not a pure people model. It's subscription plus people. And so we have some insulation in the event that there's a downturn in overall employment levels fall. And finally, last caveat, we do have the ability to pivot in the base, which we did during the pandemic, which helped to mitigate the impact of what was going on in the economy as a whole.

我要提醒大家的是，我們的模型不是純粹的人模型。這是訂閱加人員。因此，如果整體就業水平下降，我們可以採取一些隔離措施。最後，最後一個警告是，我們確實有能力在基礎上進行調整，就像我們在大流行期間所做的那樣，這有助於減輕整個經濟形勢的影響。

Yes. And I would probably say we're actually more effective in terms of both our capabilities analytically to be able to target inside the base, our capabilities from the sales and marketing and digital perspective inside the base than we were in any of the -- in the prior downturn. I mean, we just have gotten very, very effective in driving product penetration and identifying opportunities within our client base where we can add additional value with a pretty broad set of products and services.

是的。我可能會說，我們實際上在分析能力方面更有效，能夠以基地內部為目標，從銷售和營銷以及基地內部的數字角度來看，我們的能力比我們在任何一個領域都更有效。之前的低迷時期。我的意思是，我們在推動產品滲透和在客戶群中尋找機會方面非常非常有效，我們可以通過相當廣泛的產品和服務來增加附加價值。

Our next question comes from Mark Marcon with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德的馬克·馬爾孔。

This is [Andre Childress] on for Mark. So I'll just leave that one. Retirement Solutions continues to see strong growth and clearly had some nice tailwinds. Can you talk about some of the measures you are taking to capitalize on the opportunity provided by both the Secure Act as well as state mandates?

這是馬克的[安德烈·柴爾德里斯]。所以我就留下那個。退休解決方案繼續保持強勁增長，並且顯然有一些良好的推動力。您能否談談您為利用《安全法案》和國家授權所提供的機會而採取的一些措施？

Yes. So as you know, we're a leader in small and midsized businesses in terms of the number of plans. We manage more retirement plans than any other company. For the 12th straight year, we actually have prepared to support businesses, more businesses than any other provider. So we are actively already educating our existing customers and have a variety of digital marketing programs in the market. I think you'll continue to see a more aggressive positioning of Paychex in the 401(k).

是的。如您所知，就計劃數量而言，我們在中小企業中處於領先地位。我們管理的退休計劃比任何其他公司都多。實際上，我們已連續第 12 年準備支持企業，比任何其他提供商都支持更多的企業。因此，我們已經在積極地教育現有客戶，並在市場上推出了各種數字營銷計劃。我認為您將繼續看到 Paychex 在 401(k) 中更加激進的定位。

We're looking at how it can play a bigger role in our bundles and all of our payroll bundles as well. Because, again, what we're finding is given both the state mandate, coupled with the Secure Act 2.0, where literally, if you're a company gets up 20 employees, and we're working on trying to make some changes to that legislation to actually drop it down even lower than that. We can start up a 401(k) plan and basically at no cost to you. And you can then provide up to a $1,000 of match to your employees and get that money back as well.

我們正在研究它如何在我們的捆綁包和所有薪資捆綁包中發揮更大的作用。因為，我們再次發現，我們所發現的是州政府的授權，再加上《安全法案 2.0》，從字面上看，如果你是一家公司，有 20 名員工，我們正在努力對此做出一些改變立法實際上將其降得更低。我們可以啟動 401(k) 計劃，而且基本上不需要您支付任何費用。然後，您可以為您的員工提供最多 1,000 美元的匹配，並收回這筆錢。

So when you -- this is like one of the ERTC moments where our value proposition we can go to a small business owner and say, you can have a valuable benefit that's going to help you retain your employees, help you attract employees and really for -- it's not going to cost you anything to get it started. We think there's a powerful value proposition. And like I said, we're already the largest -- we already know how to do this. We already have the sales and marketing capabilities and the operational capabilities to do this in a very efficient and effective way. So we're going to continue to capitalize on this as we go into the fiscal year.

因此，當您——這就像 ERTC 時刻之一，我們的價值主張可以向小企業主說，您可以獲得寶貴的福利，這將幫助您留住員工，幫助您吸引員工，並且真正為您帶來好處。 -- 開始它不需要花費任何費用。我們認為這是一個強大的價值主張。就像我說的，我們已經是最大的——我們已經知道如何做到這一點。我們已經具備了銷售和營銷能力以及運營能力，可以以非常高效和有效的方式做到這一點。因此，在進入本財年時，我們將繼續利用這一點。

Our final question will come from Samad Samana with Jefferies.

我們的最後一個問題將由杰弗里斯的 Samad Samana 提出。

Great. So I just wanted to ask on maybe your own sales organization. Can you help us think through just between the last couple of years being strong and then us entering, let's say, a slightly different environment maybe looking forward, how maybe the sales organization performed versus quota in fiscal '23? And maybe what assumptions around quota you're thinking for fiscal '24 in terms of the quota increases for your sales organization?

偉大的。所以我只是想詢問一下您自己的銷售組織。您能否幫助我們思考一下，從過去幾年的強勁表現到我們進入的未來環境可能略有不同，銷售組織在 23 財年的表現與配額相比如何？也許您在 24 財年銷售組織的配額增加方面考慮了哪些關於配額的假設？

Well, as I said, we were very pleased with the record-setting year that we had in sales execution. It really was a stellar year from a sales performance perspective. My hat's off to the entire team. And as I said, the back half was stronger than the front half. And given that momentum we have coming out of there, the investments we've made in the fourth quarter in terms of marketing, also a lot of work on what I would say is go-to-market support for our sales teams, the things we're doing relative to sales training and sales effectiveness tools that we invested in, in the fourth quarter, given the momentum we've seen our sales team has readily and happily accepted higher quotas for fiscal year '24.

嗯，正如我所說，我們對銷售執行創紀錄的一年感到非常滿意。從銷售業績的角度來看，這確實是輝煌的一年。我向整個團隊致敬。正如我所說，後半部分比前半部分更強。考慮到我們的勢頭，我們在第四季度在營銷方面進行的投資，以及我所說的為我們的銷售團隊提供市場支持方面的大量工作，鑑於我們看到我們的銷售團隊已經輕鬆愉快地接受了 24 財年更高的配額，我們正在做與我們在第四季度投資的銷售培訓和銷售效率工具相關的工作。

Appreciate that. Efrain, I'd love to ask you another PEO follow-up question, but I'll just save that for -- I'm joking. I'm going to give you that one question. You guys have a great day.

感謝。 Efrain，我很想再問您一個 PEO 後續問題，但我只是把這個問題留到——我開玩笑的。我要問你這個問題。你們度過了愉快的一天。

There are no additional questions at this time. I would like to now turn it back to our presenters for any closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在想把它轉回給我們的主持人，讓他們發表結束語。

Okay. Well, I'd like to thank everybody for being with us today. I know probably many of you are starting ahead or headed or about to head to the 4th of July weekend. Hope you have a great time with your family. I want to thank you for your questions and support.

好的。嗯，我要感謝大家今天和我們在一起。我知道你們中的許多人可能已經開始或即將前往 7 月 4 日的周末。希望您與家人度過愉快的時光。我要感謝您的提問和支持。

I want to reflect again on this past fiscal year. Certainly, a transition year for me coming in into my new position as CEO, an absolutely phenomenal year for the company. The employees did a great job navigating a very complex fiscal year. And for the company to achieve that $5 billion milestone is really a testament to their hard work and to do it at the speed we did it during the global pandemic is something to say. I was reflecting last night as I was looking back over the last 5-year results across the board, and I go back and anchor myself to fiscal year '19 which is hard to remember, that was before the pandemic.

我想再次回顧一下過去的財政年度。當然，對於我擔任首席執行官的新職位來說，這是過渡的一年，對公司來說絕對是非凡的一年。員工們在非常複雜的財政年度中表現出色。對於該公司來說，實現 50 億美元的里程碑確實是對他們辛勤工作的證明，而且以我們在全球大流行期間所做的速度做到這一點是值得說的。昨晚，當我全面回顧過去 5 年的業績時，我進行了反思，然後我回過頭來，將自己鎖定在很難記住的 19 財年，那是在大流行之前。

And I looked at our fourth quarter, and I looked at our full year statistics. And when you go down there and see we had better revenue growth, better profit growth, better retention metrics, better HR outsourcing metrics that are new sales revenues, better new sales unit rates of growth in the fourth quarter of this past fiscal year and the full year than we had in fiscal year '19. We not only weathered the pandemic but I think we actually came out of the pandemic in a stronger position across the board. And I just want to thank the 16,000 employees at Paychex for making that happen. Hope you all have a very nice 4th of July weekend. Thank you very much. Have a great day.

我看了我們的第四季度，我看了我們全年的統計數據。當你去那裡看到我們有更好的收入增長、更好的利潤增長、更好的保留指標、更好的人力資源外包指標，即新的銷售收入、上一財年第四季度更好的新銷售單位增長率以及全年比我們 19 財年的情況要好。我們不僅經受住了這一流行病的考驗，而且我認為我們實際上在全面擺脫這一流行病的過程中處於更有利的地位。我只想感謝 Paychex 的 16,000 名員工讓這一切成為現實。希望大家 7 月 4 日週末過得愉快。非常感謝。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝你們，女士們、先生們。今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。