Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheets (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	May 31, 2014	Aug. 31, 2013	May 31, 2013	Aug. 31, 2012
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 129,625	$ 103,986	$ 161,418	$ 68,184
Accounts receivable, net	259,289	219,075
Inventories, net	171,558	142,549
Deferred income taxes	14,855	18,796
Other current assets	30,003	28,228
Assets of discontinued operations	0	272,606
Total current assets	605,330	785,240
Property, plant and equipment, net	170,453	201,496
Goodwill	765,988	734,952
Other intangibles, net	376,249	376,692
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	29,685	20,952
Total assets	1,947,705	2,119,332
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	168,997	154,049
Accrued compensation and benefits	50,589	43,800
Current maturities of long-term debt	3,375	0
Income taxes payable	9,403	14,014
Other current liabilities	62,187	56,899
Liabilities of discontinued operations	0	53,080
Total current liabilities	294,551	321,842
Long-term debt, less current maturities	386,625	515,000
Deferred income taxes	94,860	115,865
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	11,285	20,698
Other long-term liabilities	75,231	65,660
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	1,085,153	1,080,267
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,947,705	2,119,332
Parent
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	42,912	16,122	26,338	12,401
Accounts receivable, net	25,810	20,471
Inventories, net	30,729	27,343
Deferred income taxes	9,187	13,002
Other current assets	7,498	7,454
Assets of discontinued operations		0
Total current assets	116,136	84,392
Property, plant and equipment, net	9,059	7,050
Goodwill	62,543	62,543
Other intangibles, net	12,292	13,247
Investment in subsidiaries	2,245,305	2,086,534
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	14,176	12,654
Total assets	2,459,511	2,266,420
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	20,173	22,194
Accrued compensation and benefits	12,252	13,835
Current maturities of long-term debt	3,375
Income taxes payable	12,469	8,135
Other current liabilities	23,059	21,268
Liabilities of discontinued operations		0
Total current liabilities	71,328	65,432
Long-term debt, less current maturities	386,625	515,000
Deferred income taxes	42,575	64,358
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	6,942	16,267
Other long-term liabilities	61,903	51,479
Intercompany payable	804,985	473,617
Shareholders’ equity	1,085,153	1,080,267
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	2,459,511	2,266,420
Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	3,391	0	0	91
Accounts receivable, net	45,335	40,343
Inventories, net	46,009	38,948
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Other current assets	1,130	963
Assets of discontinued operations		192,129
Total current assets	95,865	272,383
Property, plant and equipment, net	23,463	22,801
Goodwill	278,144	264,502
Other intangibles, net	144,081	141,258
Investment in subsidiaries	811,391	201,779
Intercompany receivable	661,143	480,633
Other long-term assets	22	22
Total assets	2,014,109	1,383,378
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	31,621	30,637
Accrued compensation and benefits	3,372	2,716
Current maturities of long-term debt	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	6,451	4,630
Liabilities of discontinued operations		23,466
Total current liabilities	41,444	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	1,592	390
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	1,971,073	1,321,539
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	2,014,109	1,383,378
Non-Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	83,322	87,864	135,080	55,692
Accounts receivable, net	188,144	158,261
Inventories, net	94,820	76,258
Deferred income taxes	5,668	5,794
Other current assets	21,375	19,811
Assets of discontinued operations		80,477
Total current assets	393,329	428,465
Property, plant and equipment, net	137,931	171,645
Goodwill	425,301	407,907
Other intangibles, net	219,876	222,187
Investment in subsidiaries	223,423	96,333
Intercompany receivable	579,314	360,620
Other long-term assets	15,487	8,276
Total assets	1,994,661	1,695,433
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	117,203	101,218
Accrued compensation and benefits	34,965	27,249
Current maturities of long-term debt	0
Income taxes payable	(3,066)	5,879
Other current liabilities	32,677	31,001
Liabilities of discontinued operations		29,614
Total current liabilities	181,779	194,961
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	52,285	51,507
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	4,343	4,431
Other long-term liabilities	11,736	13,791
Intercompany payable	435,475	367,636
Shareholders’ equity	1,309,043	1,063,107
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,994,661	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	(3,280,119)	(2,384,646)
Intercompany receivable	(1,240,457)	(841,253)
Other long-term assets	0	0
Total assets	(4,520,576)	(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	(1,240,460)	(841,253)
Shareholders’ equity	(3,280,116)	(2,384,646)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$ (4,520,576)	$ (3,225,899)