Note 15. Income Taxes (Detail) - Provision for Income Taxes by Geographic Operations (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2012		Nov. 30, 2011
U.S. operations	$ 61,067		$ 57,088
U.S. operations	7.00%
Non-U.S. operations	10,446		9,942
Non-U.S. operations	5.10%
Income before income taxes	71,513		67,030
Income before income taxes	6.70%
U.S. operations	19,340		19,363
U.S. operations	(0.10%)
Non-U.S. operations	2,404		2,123
Non-U.S. operations	13.20%
Total provision for income taxes	$ 21,744		$ 21,486
Total provision for income taxes	1.20%
Effective tax rate	30.40%	[1]	32.10%

[1] In the first quarter of fiscal 2013 FactSet decided to repatriate cash from its wholly owned UK subsidiary. This distribution was completed in early January 2013 and resulted in a net tax benefit of approximately $1.3 million during the three months ended November 30, 2012 since the foreign tax credits associated with the distribution were greater than the tax due on the distribution of the foreign earnings. The first quarter fiscal 2013 effective tax rate before the discrete item of $1.3 million was 32.2% or 10 basis points higher than the 2012 effective tax rate. The expiration of the U.S. Federal R&D tax credit on December 31, 2011 negatively impacted the fiscal 2013 first quarter effective tax rate by 180 basis points compared to 130 basis points in the year ago first quarter.