Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheets (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Feb. 28, 2014	Aug. 31, 2013	Feb. 28, 2013	Aug. 31, 2012
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 155,017	$ 103,986	$ 90,823	$ 68,184
Accounts receivable, net	233,951	219,075
Inventories, net	164,994	142,549
Deferred income taxes	16,326	18,796
Other current assets	30,116	28,228
Assets of discontinued operations	0	272,606
Total current assets	600,404	785,240
Property, plant and equipment, net	208,179	201,496
Goodwill	749,782	734,952
Other intangibles, net	372,034	376,692
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	28,735	20,952
Total assets	1,959,134	2,119,332
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	153,726	154,049
Accrued compensation and benefits	45,824	43,800
Current maturities of long-term debt	2,250	0
Income taxes payable	32,849	14,014
Other current liabilities	63,646	56,899
Liabilities of discontinued operations	0	53,080
Total current liabilities	298,295	321,842
Long-term debt, less current maturities	387,750	515,000
Deferred income taxes	95,114	115,865
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	12,283	20,698
Other long-term liabilities	64,591	65,660
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	1,101,101	1,080,267
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,959,134	2,119,332
Parent
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	11,580	16,122	5,721	12,401
Accounts receivable, net	18,589	20,471
Inventories, net	32,100	27,343
Deferred income taxes	10,656	13,002
Other current assets	10,187	7,454
Assets of discontinued operations		0
Total current assets	83,112	84,392
Property, plant and equipment, net	8,288	7,050
Goodwill	62,543	62,543
Other intangibles, net	12,611	13,247
Investment in subsidiaries	2,213,047	2,086,534
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	12,957	12,654
Total assets	2,392,558	2,266,420
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	20,342	22,194
Accrued compensation and benefits	10,439	13,835
Current maturities of long-term debt	2,250
Income taxes payable	35,187	8,135
Other current liabilities	20,101	21,268
Liabilities of discontinued operations		0
Total current liabilities	88,319	65,432
Long-term debt, less current maturities	387,750	515,000
Deferred income taxes	42,124	64,358
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	7,585	16,267
Other long-term liabilities	51,657	51,479
Intercompany payable	714,022	473,617
Shareholders’ equity	1,101,101	1,080,267
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	2,392,558	2,266,420
Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	26	0	0	91
Accounts receivable, net	42,072	40,343
Inventories, net	45,070	38,948
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other current assets	1,126	963
Assets of discontinued operations		192,129
Total current assets	88,294	272,383
Property, plant and equipment, net	22,342	22,801
Goodwill	264,502	264,502
Other intangibles, net	136,107	141,258
Investment in subsidiaries	751,730	201,779
Intercompany receivable	683,850	480,633
Other long-term assets	22	22
Total assets	1,946,847	1,383,378
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	29,988	30,637
Accrued compensation and benefits	3,183	2,716
Current maturities of long-term debt	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	9,930	4,630
Liabilities of discontinued operations		23,466
Total current liabilities	43,101	61,449
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	110	390
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	1,903,636	1,321,539
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,946,847	1,383,378
Non-Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	143,411	87,864	85,102	55,692
Accounts receivable, net	173,290	158,261
Inventories, net	87,824	76,258
Deferred income taxes	5,670	5,794
Other current assets	18,803	19,811
Assets of discontinued operations		80,477
Total current assets	428,998	428,465
Property, plant and equipment, net	177,549	171,645
Goodwill	422,737	407,907
Other intangibles, net	223,316	222,187
Investment in subsidiaries	222,605	96,333
Intercompany receivable	455,699	360,620
Other long-term assets	15,756	8,276
Total assets	1,946,660	1,695,433
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	103,396	101,218
Accrued compensation and benefits	32,202	27,249
Current maturities of long-term debt	0
Income taxes payable	(2,338)	5,879
Other current liabilities	33,615	31,001
Liabilities of discontinued operations		29,614
Total current liabilities	166,875	194,961
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	52,990	51,507
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	4,698	4,431
Other long-term liabilities	12,824	13,791
Intercompany payable	425,527	367,636
Shareholders’ equity	1,283,746	1,063,107
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,946,660	1,695,433
Eliminations
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other current assets	0	0
Assets of discontinued operations		0
Total current assets	0	0
Property, plant and equipment, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Other intangibles, net	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(3,187,382)	(2,384,646)
Intercompany receivable	(1,139,549)	(841,253)
Other long-term assets	0	0
Total assets	(4,326,931)	(3,225,899)
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	0	0
Accrued compensation and benefits	0	0
Current maturities of long-term debt	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	0	0
Liabilities of discontinued operations		0
Total current liabilities	0	0
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Intercompany payable	(1,139,549)	(841,253)
Shareholders’ equity	(3,187,382)	(2,384,646)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$ (4,326,931)	$ (3,225,899)