diff --git a/Ledger/LedgerTransaction.hs b/Ledger/LedgerTransaction.hs
index a33d273ba..8d2261f23 100644
--- a/Ledger/LedgerTransaction.hs
+++ b/Ledger/LedgerTransaction.hs
@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ showLedgerTransaction' elide t =
             showaccountname s = printf "%-34s" s
             showcomment s = if (length s) > 0 then "  ; "++s else ""
             showstatus p = if pstatus p then "* " else ""
-            rstrip = reverse . dropWhile (== ' ') . reverse
 
 isLedgerTransactionBalanced :: LedgerTransaction -> Bool
 isLedgerTransactionBalanced (LedgerTransaction {ltpostings=ps}) = 
diff --git a/Ledger/Utils.hs b/Ledger/Utils.hs
index ab10450c7..cd14e0347 100644
--- a/Ledger/Utils.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Utils.hs
@@ -48,7 +48,10 @@ import Text.ParserCombinators.Parsec
 lowercase = map toLower
 uppercase = map toUpper
 
-strip = dropws . reverse . dropws . reverse where dropws = dropWhile (`elem` " \t")
+strip = lstrip . rstrip
+lstrip = dropws
+rstrip = reverse . dropws . reverse
+dropws = dropWhile (`elem` " \t")
 
 elideLeft width s =
     case length s > width of