Supplemental information - Summary of Dividends per Share (Details) - $ / shares	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Feb. 28, 2019	Nov. 30, 2018	Feb. 28, 2018	Nov. 30, 2017	Feb. 28, 2019	Feb. 28, 2018
Balance Sheet Related Disclosures [Abstract]
Cash dividends declared (in dollars per share)	$ 0.440	$ 0.440	$ 0.400	$ 0.400	$ 0.88	$ 0.8

Aggregate dividends declared during the period for each share of common stock outstanding.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770

Name:	us-gaap_CommonStockDividendsPerShareDeclared
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration