Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items (Details Textual) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended							0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Jun. 30, 2009	Sep. 30, 2012	Feb. 29, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Feb. 29, 2012 Customer Broker Network [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Customer Broker Network [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Trade Names [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Trade Names [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 Heritage Global Partners [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Equity Partners [Member]
Payments to Acquire Notes Receivable				$ 225
Provision for Loan, Lease, and Other Losses	40		146
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Nonaccrual Status	39				0
Payments to Acquire Lease Receivables		248
Acquired Lease Receivables Description		The Company acquired a lease receivable in the amount of $248, which is being reduced by monthly payments of $12 that began in April 2011.
Allowance for doubtful accounts					0		186
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price						7,080						7,080
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Intangible Assets Other than Goodwill						5,640		4,180		1,460		5,640
Finite Lived Intangible Assets Amortization Period								12 years		14 years
Amortization of intangible assets									203		62
Goodwill						$ 4,728						$ 4,728	$ 573