Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2014

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Pretax income by geographical source

Geographic sources of income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes are as follows for the respective periods:

	Year Ended August 31,
($ in thousands)	2014			2013			2012
United States	$	384,146		$	468,738		$	727,965
Foreign	(51,406		)	(38,771		)	(61,679		)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	332,740		$	429,967		$	666,286

Income tax (expense) benefit

Income tax (expense) benefit consists of the following for the respective periods:

	Year Ended August 31,
($ in thousands)	2014			2013			2012
Current:
U.S. Federal	$	(114,997	)	$	(174,020	)	$	(212,113	)
State and local	(17,664		)	(30,250		)	(46,676		)
Foreign	(2,575		)	(1,704		)	(2,140		)
Total current	(135,236		)	(205,974		)	(260,929		)
Deferred:
U.S. Federal	(3,154		)	20,420			(28,999		)
State and local	240			3,132			(1,039		)
Foreign	16,826			5,965			8,188
Total deferred	13,912			29,517			(21,850		)
Provision for income taxes	$	(121,324	)	$	(176,457	)	$	(282,779	)

Income tax rate reconciliation

The provision for income taxes differs from the tax computed using the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate as a result of the following items for the respective periods:

	Year Ended August 31,
	2014		2013		2012
Statutory U.S. federal income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	4.8	%	4.3	%	4.2	%
Foreign taxes	0.9	%	2.2	%	1.4	%
Goodwill impairments	—	%	—	%	0.9	%
Internal Revenue Service settlement	(3.1	)%	—	%	—	%
Mexico tax reform	(0.8	)%	—	%	—	%
Contingent consideration	1.0	%	—	%	—	%
Other, net	(1.3	)%	(0.5	)%	0.9	%
Effective income tax rate	36.5	%	41.0	%	42.4	%

Deferred tax assets and liabilities

Deferred tax assets and liabilities consist of the following as of August 31:

($ in thousands)	2014			2013
Deferred tax assets:
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$	13,100		$	16,479
Leasing transactions	74,528			86,946
Net operating loss carry-forward	16,938			25,055
Share-based compensation	23,796			35,123
Deferred revenue	18,539			4,698
Other	62,436			47,231
Gross deferred tax assets	209,337			215,532
Valuation allowance	(21,048		)	(17,998		)
Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance	188,289			197,534
Deferred tax liabilities:
Fixed assets	36,149			42,485
Intangibles	47,344			35,109
Other	6,264			7,929
Gross deferred tax liabilities	89,757			85,523
Net deferred income taxes	$	98,532		$	112,011

Unrecognized tax benefits

The following summarizes the activity in our unrecognized tax benefits, excluding interest and penalties, for the respective periods:

	Year Ended August 31,
($ in thousands)	2014			2013			2012
Beginning unrecognized tax benefits	$	44,057		$	32,207		$	25,811
Increases for tax positions taken in the current year	—			13,095			7,708
Increases for tax positions taken in prior years	2,214			5,953			813
Decreases for settlements with tax authorities	(7,184		)	(197		)	(733		)
Decreases for tax positions of prior years(1)	(10,541		)	(2,635		)	—
Decreases due to lapse of applicable statutes of limitations	(10,148		)	(4,366		)	(1,392		)
Ending unrecognized tax benefits	$	18,398		$	44,057		$	32,207

⁽¹⁾ Fiscal year 2014 includes the $10.2 million tax benefit discussed in Income Tax Audits below.