diff --git a/Ledger/Dates.hs b/Ledger/Dates.hs
index 784d00c09..170193217 100644
--- a/Ledger/Dates.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Dates.hs
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ fixSmartDateStr :: Day -> String -> String
 fixSmartDateStr t s = printf "%04d/%02d/%02d" y m d
     where
       (y,m,d) = toGregorian $ fixSmartDate t sdate
-      sdate = fromparse $ parsewith smartdate $ map toLower s
+      sdate = fromparse $ parsewith smartdate $ lowercase s
 
 -- | Convert a SmartDate to an absolute date using the provided reference date.
 fixSmartDate :: Day -> SmartDate -> Day
@@ -283,8 +283,8 @@ months = ["january","february","march","april","may","june",
 
 mons   = ["jan","feb","mar","apr","may","jun","jul","aug","sep","oct","nov","dec"]
 
-monthIndex s = maybe 0 (+1) $ (map toLower s) `elemIndex` months
-monIndex s   = maybe 0 (+1) $ (map toLower s) `elemIndex` mons
+monthIndex s = maybe 0 (+1) $ (lowercase s) `elemIndex` months
+monIndex s   = maybe 0 (+1) $ (lowercase s) `elemIndex` mons
 
 month :: Parser SmartDate
 month = do
diff --git a/Ledger/Utils.hs b/Ledger/Utils.hs
index 8f09a6723..dedf02cd7 100644
--- a/Ledger/Utils.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Utils.hs
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ import Text.ParserCombinators.Parsec
 
 -- strings
 
+lowercase = map toLower
+uppercase = map toUpper
+
 strip = dropspaces . reverse . dropspaces . reverse
     where dropspaces = dropWhile (`elem` " \t")