diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs
index 143ce039a..7e746f950 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Balance.hs
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ module Hledger.Cli.Commands.Balance (
  ,multiBalanceHasTotalsColumn
  ,addTotalBorders
  ,simpleDateSpanCell
+ ,tidyColumnLabels
  ,nbsp
  ,RowClass(..)
   -- ** Tests
@@ -777,9 +778,7 @@ multiBalanceReportAsSpreadsheetParts fmt opts@ReportOpts{..} (PeriodicReport col
       addHeaderBorders $
       hCell "account" "account" :
       case layout_ of
-      LayoutTidy ->
-          map headerCell
-              ["period", "start_date", "end_date", "commodity", "value"]
+      LayoutTidy -> map headerCell tidyColumnLabels
       LayoutBare -> headerCell "commodity" : dateHeaders
       _          -> dateHeaders
     dateHeaders =
@@ -802,6 +801,10 @@ multiBalanceReportAsSpreadsheetParts fmt opts@ReportOpts{..} (PeriodicReport col
         map (map (fmap wbToText)) .
         multiBalanceRowAsCellBuilders fmt opts colspans rc dsCell
 
+tidyColumnLabels :: [Text]
+tidyColumnLabels =
+    ["period", "start_date", "end_date", "commodity", "value"]
+
 
 -- | Render a multi-column balance report as HTML.
 multiBalanceReportAsHtml :: ReportOpts -> MultiBalanceReport -> Html ()
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs
index 74d5fe032..cfc7e8d5e 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CompoundBalanceCommand.hs
@@ -347,13 +347,19 @@ compoundBalanceReportAsSpreadsheet ::
 compoundBalanceReportAsSpreadsheet fmt accountLabel maybeBlank ropts cbr =
   let
     CompoundPeriodicReport title colspans subreports totalrow = cbr
-    headerrow =
+    leadingHeaders =
       Spr.headerCell accountLabel :
-      (guard (layout_ ropts == LayoutBare) >> [Spr.headerCell "Commodity"]) ++
+      case layout_ ropts of
+          LayoutTidy -> map Spr.headerCell tidyColumnLabels
+          LayoutBare -> [Spr.headerCell "Commodity"]
+          _ -> []
+    dataHeaders =
+      (guard (layout_ ropts /= LayoutTidy) >>) $
       map (Spr.headerCell . reportPeriodName (balanceaccum_ ropts) colspans)
         colspans ++
       (guard (multiBalanceHasTotalsColumn ropts) >> [Spr.headerCell "Total"]) ++
       (guard (average_   ropts) >> [Spr.headerCell "Average"])
+    headerrow = leadingHeaders ++ dataHeaders
 
     blankrow =
       fmap (Spr.horizontalSpan headerrow . Spr.defaultCell) maybeBlank