diff --git a/hledger-lib/Ledger/Transaction.hs b/hledger-lib/Ledger/Transaction.hs
index a95793130..0f79fc548 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Ledger/Transaction.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Ledger/Transaction.hs
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ balanceTransaction t@Transaction{tpostings=ps}
             balance p | isReal p && not (hasAmount p) = p{pamount = costOfMixedAmount (-otherstotal)}
                       | otherwise = p
                       where otherstotal = sum $ map pamount withamounts
-      printerr s = unlines [s, showTransactionUnelided t]
+      printerr s = intercalate "\n" [s, showTransactionUnelided t]
 
 nonzerobalanceerror :: Transaction -> String
 nonzerobalanceerror t = printf "could not balance this transaction (%s%s%s)" rmsg sep bvmsg
diff --git a/tests/unbalanced.test b/tests/unbalanced.test
index a256f00fe..c5b592864 100644
--- a/tests/unbalanced.test
+++ b/tests/unbalanced.test
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 >>>2
 "-" (line 4, column 1):
 unexpected end of input
-could not balance this transaction (real postings are off by 0.1):
+could not balance this transaction (real postings are off by 0.1)
 2009/01/01 a
     b           1.1
     c            -1
diff --git a/tests/unicode-error-message.test b/tests/unicode-error-message.test
index 16fe0618f..b55e23587 100644
--- a/tests/unicode-error-message.test
+++ b/tests/unicode-error-message.test
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 >>>2
 "-" (line 4, column 1):
 unexpected end of input
-could not balance this transaction (real postings are off by -1):
+could not balance this transaction (real postings are off by -1)
 2009/01/01 broken entry
     дебит              1
     кредит            -2