Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Feb. 29, 2016	Aug. 31, 2015	Feb. 28, 2015	Aug. 31, 2014
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 154,671	$ 168,846	$ 87,497	$ 109,012
Accounts receivable, net	181,335	193,081
Inventories, net	147,371	142,752
Deferred income taxes	0	12,922
Other current assets	54,906	42,788
Total current assets	538,283	560,389
Property, plant and equipment, net	110,867	142,458
Goodwill	486,353	608,256
Other intangibles, net	250,535	308,762
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	24,966	17,052
Total assets	1,411,004	1,636,917
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	111,550	118,115
Accrued compensation and benefits	40,907	43,707
Current maturities of debt and short-term borrowings	11,250	3,969
Income taxes payable	5,136	14,805
Other current liabilities	52,767	54,460
Total current liabilities	221,610	235,056
Long-term debt, less current maturities	576,809	584,309
Deferred income taxes	52,614	72,941
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	16,316	17,828
Other long-term liabilities	56,123	53,782
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	487,532	673,001
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,411,004	1,636,917
Parent
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	6,553	18,688	5,554	27,931
Accounts receivable, net	13,081	16,135
Inventories, net	24,689	23,074
Deferred income taxes		9,256
Other current assets	14,389	18,020
Total current assets	58,712	85,173
Property, plant and equipment, net	5,363	6,363
Goodwill	38,847	38,847
Other intangibles, net	10,065	10,702
Investment in subsidiaries	1,886,769	2,067,438
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Other long-term assets	9,968	10,694
Total assets	2,009,724	2,219,217
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	13,585	14,700
Accrued compensation and benefits	13,513	16,479
Current maturities of debt and short-term borrowings	11,250	3,750
Income taxes payable	0	10,947
Other current liabilities	18,955	19,817
Total current liabilities	57,303	65,693
Long-term debt, less current maturities	576,809	584,309
Deferred income taxes	35,157	43,210
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	11,016	11,712
Other long-term liabilities	47,004	46,407
Intercompany payable	794,903	794,885
Shareholders’ equity	487,532	673,001
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	2,009,724	2,219,217
Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	523	1,937	3,325
Accounts receivable, net	32,039	33,748
Inventories, net	31,557	33,480
Deferred income taxes		0
Other current assets	2,683	2,967
Total current assets	66,279	70,718
Property, plant and equipment, net	19,647	23,691
Goodwill	143,690	189,337
Other intangibles, net	101,041	109,665
Investment in subsidiaries	900,034	1,017,418
Intercompany receivable	604,822	619,198
Other long-term assets	0	0
Total assets	1,835,513	2,030,027
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	15,371	19,213
Accrued compensation and benefits	3,665	2,952
Current maturities of debt and short-term borrowings	0	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	5,213	4,783
Total current liabilities	24,249	26,948
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	1,028	400
Intercompany payable	0	0
Shareholders’ equity	1,810,236	2,002,679
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,835,513	2,030,027
Non-Guarantors
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	148,118	149,635	80,006	77,756
Accounts receivable, net	136,215	143,198
Inventories, net	91,125	86,198
Deferred income taxes		3,666
Other current assets	37,834	21,801
Total current assets	413,292	404,498
Property, plant and equipment, net	85,857	112,404
Goodwill	303,816	380,072
Other intangibles, net	139,429	188,395
Investment in subsidiaries	24,363	27,552
Intercompany receivable	571,847	565,968
Other long-term assets	14,998	6,358
Total assets	1,553,602	1,685,247
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	82,594	84,202
Accrued compensation and benefits	23,729	24,276
Current maturities of debt and short-term borrowings	0	219
Income taxes payable	5,136	3,858
Other current liabilities	28,599	29,860
Total current liabilities	140,058	142,415
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Deferred income taxes	17,457	29,731
Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities	5,300	6,116
Other long-term liabilities	8,091	6,975
Intercompany payable	381,766	390,281
Shareholders’ equity	1,000,930	1,109,729
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	1,553,602	1,685,247
Eliminations
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	$ 0	$ 0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Deferred income taxes		0
Other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	0	0
Property, plant and equipment, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Other intangibles, net	0	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(2,811,166)	(3,112,408)
Intercompany receivable	(1,176,669)	(1,185,166)
Other long-term assets	0	0
Total assets	(3,987,835)	(4,297,574)
Current liabilities
Trade accounts payable	0	0
Accrued compensation and benefits	0	0
Current maturities of debt and short-term borrowings	0	0
Income taxes payable	0	0
Other current liabilities	0	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	(1,176,669)	(1,185,166)
Shareholders’ equity	(2,811,166)	(3,112,408)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$ (3,987,835)	$ (4,297,574)