Loans Receivable - Summary of Changes in Allowance for Loan Losses and Allowance for Losses on Lending Commitments (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Allowance for loan losses
Balance, beginning of period	$ 509	$ 414
Charge-offs	(11)	(8)
Provision	52	138
Other	(8)	(35)
Balance, end of period	542	509
Allowance for losses on lending commitments
Balance, beginning of period	212	188
Provision	36	44
Other		(20)
Balance, end of period	$ 248	$ 212

Amount of other addition (reduction) in allowance reserve for debit loss.

No definition available.

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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The roll forward for allowance for losses on lending commitments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of allowance for lending commitments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Provision/ ( release ) for losses on lending commitments.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	gs_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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- Definition

Amount of other addition (reduction) in allowance reserve for credit loss.

+ References

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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
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- Definition

A roll forward is a reconciliation of a concept from the beginning of a period to the end of a period.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of loans and leases that have been written off from both loan receivables and allowance reserve for credit loss.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of allowance to cover probable credit losses on loans and leases. Includes carryover of or adjustments to the allowance for loan losses in connection with business combinations. Excludes allowance for loans and leases covered under loss sharing agreements.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of expense related to estimated loss from loan and lease transactions.

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