diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/CsvReader.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/CsvReader.hs
index 12f0a9a4b..709e3ccc2 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/CsvReader.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/CsvReader.hs
@@ -513,6 +513,7 @@ journalfieldnames =
   ,"account1"
   ,"account2"
   ,"comment"
+  ,"balance"
   ]
 
 assignmentseparatorp :: CsvRulesParser ()
@@ -663,6 +664,17 @@ transactionFromCsvRecord sourcepos rules record = t
                    _         -> "expenses:unknown"
     account1    = T.pack $ maybe "" render (mfieldtemplate "account1") `or` defaccount1
     account2    = T.pack $ maybe "" render (mfieldtemplate "account2") `or` defaccount2
+    balance     = maybe Nothing parsebalance $ mfieldtemplate "balance"
+    parsebalance "" = Nothing
+    parsebalance str = Just $ either (balanceerror str) id $ runParser (evalStateT (amountp <* eof) mempty) "" $ T.pack $ (currency++) $ negateIfParenthesised $ render str
+    balanceerror str err = error' $ unlines
+      ["error: could not parse \""++str++"\" as balance amount"
+      ,showRecord record
+      ,"the balance rule is:      "++(fromMaybe "" $ mfieldtemplate "balance")
+      ,"the currency rule is:    "++(fromMaybe "unspecified" $ mfieldtemplate "currency")
+      ,"the default-currency is: "++fromMaybe "unspecified" mdefaultcurrency
+      ,"the parse error is:      "++show err
+      ]
 
     -- build the transaction
     t = nulltransaction{
@@ -676,7 +688,7 @@ transactionFromCsvRecord sourcepos rules record = t
       tpreceding_comment_lines = T.pack precomment,
       tpostings                =
         [posting {paccount=account2, pamount=amount2, ptransaction=Just t}
-        ,posting {paccount=account1, pamount=amount1, ptransaction=Just t}
+        ,posting {paccount=account1, pamount=amount1, ptransaction=Just t, pbalanceassertion=balance}
         ]
       }
 
diff --git a/hledger-lib/doc/hledger_csv.5.m4.md b/hledger-lib/doc/hledger_csv.5.m4.md
index d9ddc9aa2..cd556cdf3 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/doc/hledger_csv.5.m4.md
+++ b/hledger-lib/doc/hledger_csv.5.m4.md
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ date-format %-m/%-d/%Y %l:%M %p
 
 This (a) names the CSV fields, in order (names may not contain whitespace; uninteresting names may be left blank),
 and (b) assigns them to journal entry fields if you use any of these standard field names:
-`date`, `date2`, `status`, `code`, `description`, `comment`, `account1`, `account2`, `amount`, `amount-in`, `amount-out`, `currency`.
+`date`, `date2`, `status`, `code`, `description`, `comment`, `account1`, `account2`, `amount`, `amount-in`, `amount-out`, `currency`, `balance`.
 Eg:
 ```rules
 # use the 1st, 2nd and 4th CSV fields as the entry's date, description and amount,
@@ -172,3 +172,5 @@ If an amount value is parenthesised, it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flippe
 The generated journal entries will be sorted by date.
 The original order of same-day entries will be preserved, usually.
 <!-- (by reversing the CSV entries if they seem to be in reverse date order). -->
+
+If you assign anything to the `balance` pseudo field, it would become an assertion of the balance of `account1`. If you assign empty string to it, no assertion will be generated (this can be used to omit balance assertions on some transactions).
diff --git a/tests/csv/read.test b/tests/csv/read.test
index 8f490f817..f4f2bb113 100644
--- a/tests/csv/read.test
+++ b/tests/csv/read.test
@@ -58,3 +58,13 @@
 #          $-1,001.00  income:unknown
 #           $1,001.00  unknown
 #>>>=0
+# 6. read CSV with balance field
+ rm -rf t.rules$$; printf 'fields date, description, amount, balance\ndate-format %%d/%%Y/%%m\ncurrency $\naccount1 assets:myacct\n' >t.rules$$; echo '10/2009/09,Flubber Co,50,123' | hledger -f- print --rules-file t.rules$$; rm -rf t.rules$$
+>>>
+2009/09/10 Flubber Co
+    income:unknown          $-50
+    assets:myacct            $50 = $123
+
+>>>2 /using conversion rules file.*t.rules/
+>>>=0
+