Business Combinations - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended				0 Months Ended					0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 J.C. Flowers [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Preferred Equity Certificate [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Janus Holdings [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Janus Holdings [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Janus Holdings [Member] Preferred Equity Certificate [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Encore Europe Consolidated [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Encore Europe Consolidated [Member] Preferred Equity Certificate [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	May 08, 2012 Propel Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Propel Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Marlin Acquisition [Member]	Feb. 07, 2014 Marlin Acquisition [Member] Subsequent Event [Member] USD ($)	Feb. 07, 2014 Marlin Acquisition [Member] Subsequent Event [Member] GBP (£)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Credit Management [Member] Janus Holdings [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] A Shares [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] E Shares [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] E Bridge PECs [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] E Bridge PECs [Member] GBP (£)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] E PECs [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Acquisition [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] E PECs [Member] GBP (£)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] A Shares [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] J Shares [Member]	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] J Bridge PECs [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] J Bridge PECs [Member] GBP (£)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] J PECs [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2013 Cabot Holdings [Member] Janus Holdings [Member] J.C. Flowers [Member] J PECs [Member] GBP (£)	Jun. 13, 2013 AACC Merger [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 AACC Merger [Member] USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Percentage of equity interest acquired																50.10%					42.90%
Debt instrument purchased, face amount																							$ 15,500,000	£ 10,218,574.0	$ 147,100,000	£ 96,729,661.0				$ 15,500,000	£ 10,177,781.0
Number of shares acquired			100																			3,498,563					100
Number of shares held																		100											3,484,597
Aggregate purchase price														481,000,000	295,000,000				175,000,000	115,100,000
Minority interest percentage						49.90%																						49.90%
Debt instrument purchased, face amount																																146,500,000	96,343,515.0
Debt instrument, interest rate				12.00%
Goodwill	504,213,000	55,446,000			376,296,000					13,500,000	45,400,000						351,908,000																		62,941,000
Acquisition and integration costs																	6,700,000																		9,100,000
Revenue included in condensed consolidated statement of income					95,500,000												95,500,000																		102,100,000
Net income included in condensed consolidated statement of income					2,300,000												9,000,000																		14,600,000
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	1,559,000				392,000			1,559,000
PEC interest (expense) income	15,906,000	10,460,000					(21,616,000)		(11,381,000)
Business acquisition, date of acquisition												May 08, 2012	Feb. 07, 2014
Business acquisition, cash paid											186,800,000						177,246,000																	150,800,000	316,485,000
Business acquisition, common stock issued																																		1,700,000
Business acquisition, common stock issued, price per share																																		$ 37.30
Business acquisition, debt paid off on the closing date of AACC Merger																																			165,700,000
Intangible assets											600,000						7,559,000																		1,470,000
Liabilities, net											$ 2,300,000																								$ 126,059,000