FAIR VALUE, Level 3 Financial Assets and Liabilities, Roll Forward (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011		Sep. 30, 2010
Trading instruments [Member] | Municipal & provincial obligations [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	$ 6,275,000		$ 5,316,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	(397,000)		1,929,000
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	1,050,000
Sales	(305,000)
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			(6,545,000)
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	5,575,000
Out of level 3	(6,248,000)	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	375,000		6,275,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	203,000		0
Trading instruments [Member] | Non-agency CMOs & ABS [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	3,930,000		10,915,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	1,318,000		(547,000)
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	12,000
Sales	(5,210,000)
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			(6,438,000)
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	0
Out of level 3	0	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	50,000		3,930,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	(99,000)		174,000
Trading instruments [Member] | Derivative contracts [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period			222,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings			(222,000)
Included in other comprehensive income			0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			0
Transfers:
Into level 3			0
Out of level 3			0
Fair value, end of period			0
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held			0
Trading instruments [Member] | Equity securities [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	3,025,000		0
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	(176,000)		(44,000)
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	688,000
Sales	(1,225,000)
Redemptions by issuer	(1,125,000)
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			2,669,000
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	400,000
Out of level 3	(1,172,000)	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	15,000		3,025,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	(23,000)		5,000
Trading instruments [Member] | Other securities [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period			919,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings			720,000
Included in other comprehensive income			0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			7,000
Transfers:
Into level 3			0
Out of level 3			(1,646,000)
Fair value, end of period			0
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held			720,000
Available for sale securities [Member] | Non-agency CMOs [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	1,011,000		2,596,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	121,000		(2,844,000)
Included in other comprehensive income	155,000		1,652,000
Purchases and contributions	0
Sales	(436,000)
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			(393,000)
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	0
Out of level 3	0	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	851,000		1,011,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	(81,000)		(2,844,000)
Available for sale securities [Member] | ARS - municipals [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	0
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	0
Included in other comprehensive income	0
Purchases and contributions	73,213,000
Sales	0
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Transfers:
Into level 3	6,311,000	[1]
Out of level 3	0	[1]
Fair value, end of period	79,524,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	0
Available for sale securities [Member] | ARS - preferred securities [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	0
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	0
Included in other comprehensive income	0
Purchases and contributions	131,255,000
Sales	0
Redemptions by issuer	(15,925,000)
Distributions	0
Transfers:
Into level 3	1,194,000	[1]
Out of level 3	0	[1]
Fair value, end of period	116,524,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	0
Private equity and other investments [Member] | Private equity investments [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	161,230,000		142,671,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	10,683,000	[2]	13,652,000	[3]
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	14,027,000
Sales	0
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	(16,694,000)
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			4,907,000
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	0
Out of level 3	(461,000)	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	168,785,000		161,230,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	(8,000)		13,652,000
Share of the net valuation adjustments gain	6,000,000		3,500,000
Noncontrolling interests' share of the net valuation adjustments gain	4,700,000		10,200,000
Private equity and other investments [Member] | Other investments [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, assets [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	45,000		227,000
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	(160,000)		243,000
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	1,932,000
Sales	(191,000)
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			(425,000)
Transfers:
Into level 3	461,000	[1]	0
Out of level 3	0	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	2,087,000		45,000
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	(143,000)		(5,000)
Payables-trade and other [Member] | Other liabilities fair value [Member]
Changes in Level 3 recurring fair value measurements, liabilities [Roll Forward]
Fair value, beginning of period	(46,000)		(59,000)
Realized/unrealized gains (losses):
Included in earnings	6,000		13,000
Included in other comprehensive income	0		0
Purchases and contributions	0
Sales	0
Redemptions by issuer	0
Distributions	0
Purchases, issuances & settlements, net			0
Transfers:
Into level 3	0	[1]	0
Out of level 3	0	[1]	0
Fair value, end of period	(40,000)		(46,000)
Change in unrealized gains (losses) related to financial instruments held	$ 0		$ 0
Measured at fair value on a recurring basis [Member]
Percentage of instruments measured at fair value on a recurring basis [Abstract]
Instruments measured at fair value, percentage of assets (in hundredths)	7.30%		7.50%
Instruments measured at fair value, percentage of liabilities (in hundredths)	0.50%		0.90%
Instruments measured at fair value, Level 3, percentage of assets (in hundredths)	28.00%		13.10%

[1] During fiscal year 2011, ARS positions we held in trading instruments which were repurchased from clients in individual settlements prior to the ARS settlement (refer to Note 17 for discussion of the ARS settlement) were transferred into available for sale securities. In addition, certain investments held by our Canadian subsidiary were reclassified from private equity investments to other investments. In all periods presented, these positions were considered Level 3 assets in the fair value hierarchy.

[2] Primarily results from valuation adjustments of certain private equity investments. Since we only own a portion of these investments, our share of the net valuation adjustments resulted in a gain of $6 million which is included in net income attributable to RJF (after noncontrolling interests). The noncontrolling interests' share of the net valuation adjustments was a gain of approximately $4.7 million.

[3] Primarily results from valuation adjustments of certain private equity investments. Since we only own a portion of these investments, our share of the net valuation adjustments resulted in a gain of $3.5 million which is included in net income attributable to RJF (after noncontrolling interests). The noncontrolling interests' share of the net valuation adjustments was a gain of approximately $10.2 million.