Commitments under equity capitalization of joint venture entity.

No definition available.

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Equity commitment to joint venture unfunded portion.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Equity Method Investment, Percent of Financial Information Presented

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	jef_EquityMethodInvestmentPercentofFinancialInformationPresented
Namespace Prefix:	jef_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66011266&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the carrying amount on the entity's balance sheet of its investment in common stock of an equity method investee. This is not an indicator of the fair value of the investment, rather it is the initial cost adjusted for the entity's share of earnings and losses of the investee, adjusted for any distributions (dividends) and other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66022249&loc=d3e33749-111570

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.12)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the entity's proportionate share for the period of the net income (loss) of its investee (such as unconsolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures) to which the equity method of accounting is applied. This item includes income or expense related to stock-based compensation based on the investor's grant of stock to employees of an equity method investee.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03(12))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=63488584&loc=d3e20235-122688

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 225
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-04(10))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879464&loc=d3e573970-122913

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66902209&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66022249&loc=d3e33749-111570

Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 225
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-04(13)(f))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879574&loc=d3e536633-122882

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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Investments - JCP Funds - Narrative (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Investments - JCP Funds - Narrative (Details) - USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2016	Nov. 30, 2015	Nov. 30, 2014
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Total committed equity capitalization	$ 1,200,000,000
Unfunded portion of equity commitment to subsidiary	106,100,000
Jefferies LoanCore, LLC [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment	$ 156,300,000	$ 290,700,000
Ownership percentage	48.50%
JCP Funds [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment	$ 29,100,000	29,700,000
Losses from investments	1,100,000	24,300,000	$ 10,300,000
Unfunded portion of equity commitment to subsidiary	$ 11,300,000
Percent of financial information presented	100.00%
Ownership percentage	35.20%
Maximum [Member] \| JCP Funds [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Total committed equity capitalization	$ 85,000,000.0	$ 85,000,000.0