RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Details) (USD $)				3 Months Ended										3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 KKR Principals	Mar. 31, 2012 KKR Principals	Mar. 31, 2013 Related Entities	Dec. 31, 2012 Related Entities	Mar. 31, 2013 Portfolio Companies	Dec. 31, 2012 Portfolio Companies	Mar. 31, 2013 KKR Holdings L.P.	Dec. 31, 2012 KKR Holdings L.P.	Mar. 31, 2013 KFN	Dec. 31, 2012 KFN	Mar. 31, 2013 Professionals, including principals and other qualifying employees	Mar. 31, 2012 Professionals, including principals and other qualifying employees	Mar. 31, 2013 Real-estate based partnership	Mar. 31, 2012 Real-estate based partnership
Related Party Transactions
Due from Affiliates	$ 149,614,000	$ 122,185,000		$ 0		$ 88,155,000	$ 73,357,000	$ 61,459,000	$ 48,828,000
Due to Affiliates	79,674,000	72,830,000				2,460,000	2,455,000			77,214,000	70,375,000
Consolidated assets	45,542,791,000	44,426,353,000	43,520,412,000									8,600,000,000	8,400,000,000
Shareholders' equity												2,400,000,000	1,800,000,000
Number of shares held in affiliate												0
Ownership percentage in affiliate													0.10%
Ownership percentage in affiliate if all vested options were exercised												0.30%	0.35%
Discretionary Investments
Cash investment														61,700,000	35,900,000
Aircraft and Other Services
Expenses incurred for the use of aircraft				900,000	1,400,000
Facilities
Payments made to partnership																$ 1,800,000	$ 1,700,000