INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2017

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Current and Deferred Income Taxes by Period

	Fiscal
	2017			2016		2015
Current taxes
U.S. federal	$	152,002		$	314,121	$	617,488
U.S. state and local	17,269			38,255		72,133
Non-U.S.	1,175,962			835,653		906,229
Total current tax expense	1,345,233			1,188,029		1,595,850
Deferred taxes
U.S. federal	(200,483		)	8,588		(94,621		)
U.S. state and local	(26,069		)	1,056		(11,245		)
Non-U.S.	(137,581		)	56,296		(353,243		)
Total deferred tax (benefit) expense	(364,133		)	65,940		(459,109		)
Total	$	981,100		$	1,253,969	$	1,136,741

Components of Income Before Income Taxes

	Fiscal
	2017		2016		2015
U.S. sources (1)	$	251,456	$	1,047,909	$	1,321,511
Non-U.S. sources	4,364,576		4,555,663		3,089,019
Total	$	4,616,032	$	5,603,572	$	4,410,530

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(1) Includes U.S.pension settlement charges of $509,793 and $64,382 for fiscal 2017 and 2015, respectively.

Reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate to effective tax rate [Table Text Block]

The reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate to the Company’s effective income tax rate was as follows:

	Fiscal
	2017		2016		2015
U.S. federal statutory income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
U.S. state and local taxes, net	1.3		1.1		1.3
Non-U.S. operations taxed at lower rates	(18.0	)	(12.0	)	(15.4	)
Final determinations (1)	(3.6	)	(2.1	)	(5.1	)
Other net activity in unrecognized tax benefits	8.4		2.7		3.2
Change in indefinite reinvestment assertion	(0.6	)	(0.6	)	5.6
Divestitures	—		(3.4	)	—
Excess tax benefits from share based payments	(2.7	)	—		—
Other, net	1.5		1.7		1.2
Effective income tax rate	21.3	%	22.4	%	25.8	%

_______________ 

(1) Final determinations include final agreements with tax authorities and expirations of statutes of limitations.

Components of Deferred Tax Assets And Liabilities

The components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities included the following:

	August 31, 2017			August 31, 2016
Deferred tax assets
Pensions	$	294,850		$	306,776
Revenue recognition	163,393			113,890
Compensation and benefits	734,373			797,707
Share-based compensation	293,546			262,508
Tax credit carryforwards	1,419,506			1,161,084
Net operating loss carryforwards	204,803			131,018
Depreciation and amortization	97,076			97,015
Deferred amortization deductions	705,495			687,351
Indirect effects of unrecognized tax benefits	343,832			354,544
Other	122,590			139,105
	4,379,464			4,050,998
Valuation allowance	(1,564,554		)	(1,243,207		)
Total deferred tax assets	2,814,910			2,807,791
Deferred tax liabilities
Revenue recognition	(80,683		)	(109,749		)
Depreciation and amortization	(228,166		)	(205,431		)
Investments in subsidiaries	(202,359		)	(330,673		)
Other	(225,899		)	(195,646		)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(737,107		)	(841,499		)
Net deferred tax assets	$	2,077,803		$	1,966,292

Reconciliation of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of unrecognized tax benefits was as follows:

	Fiscal
	2017			2016
Balance, beginning of year	$	985,755		$	997,935
Additions for tax positions related to the current year	204,321			163,097
Additions for tax positions related to prior years	254,274			126,353
Reductions for tax positions related to prior years	(250,135		)	(63,782		)
Statute of limitations expirations	(41,544		)	(208,295		)
Settlements with tax authorities	(221,999		)	(3,703		)
Foreign currency translation	15,178			(25,850		)
Balance, end of year	$	945,850		$	985,755