NATURE OF OPERATIONS (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 Entity	Sep. 30, 2012 LEAF [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 LEAF Financial Corporation [Member] Entity Partnership	Nov. 16, 2011 Eos Partners, L.P. [Member] LEAF [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 Eos Partners, L.P. [Member] LEAF [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 Eos Partners, L.P. [Member] LEAF [Member] LEAF Common Stock [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 LEAF [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 RSO [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 RSO [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 RSO [Member] LEAF [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 RSO [Member] LEAF [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 RSO [Member] LEAF [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 RSO [Member] LEAF [Member] Series D Preferred Stock [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Resource America, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 29, 2011 Resource America, Inc. [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 Resource America, Inc. [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Resource America, Inc. [Member] General Partner [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Resource America, Inc. [Member] CVC Credit Partners, L.P. [Member] Limited Partner [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Resource America, Inc. [Member] CVC Credit Partners, L.P. [Member] General Partner [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 RFIG [Member] Partnership	Nov. 16, 2011 LEAF Senior Management [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Apidos [Member]
Subsidiary or Equity Method Investee [Line Items]
Number of entities owned by entity and co-managing partner	6
Number of partnerships in which the company serves as general partner																				7
Number of entites managed by related parties			4
Number of equipment leasing partnerships			4
Amount invested in cash				$ 50,000,000
Preferred stock shares issued (in shares)				50,000				31,341				4,872	2,364
Dividend rate of preferred stock (in hundredths)		12.00%							8.00%		8.00%
Number of shares of LEAF common stock that can be purchased with warrants issued (in shares)						2,954
Exercise price of warrants (in dollars per share)						0.01
Fully diluted potential percentage of interest in LEAF from warrants (in hundredths)	14.90%				45.10%					26.70%						15.70%					10.00%
Number of common shares in LEAF retained by the entity (in shares)														18,414
Gain on deconsolidation and sale of subsidiaries	63,291,000						8,700,000															54,500,000
Proceeds from sale of CLO management subsidiary														25,000,000
Percentage interest in limited partnership formed																		33.00%
Company's general partnership interest in newly formed limited partnership (in hundredths)																			33.00%
Preferred equity interest retained as a percentage of incentive management fees (in hundredths)																	75.00%
Valuation of company's investment in Apidos															$ 34,800,000