diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.hs
index 7e6b4d632..c366f3a27 100755
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.hs
@@ -42,11 +42,17 @@ close CliOpts{rawopts_=rawopts, reportopts_=ropts} j = do
     (opening, closing) =
       case (boolopt "opening" rawopts, boolopt "closing" rawopts) of
         (False, False) -> (True, True)
-        (o, c) -> (o, c)
+        (o, c)         -> (o, c)
 
     -- accounts to close to and open from
-    closingacct = T.pack $ fromMaybe defclosingacct $ maybestringopt "close-to" rawopts
-    openingacct = T.pack $ fromMaybe defopeningacct $ maybestringopt "open-from" rawopts
+    -- if a name is specified for only one, it is used for both
+    (closingacct, openingacct) =
+      let (mc, mo) = (T.pack <$> maybestringopt "close-to" rawopts, T.pack <$> maybestringopt "open-from" rawopts)
+      in case (mc, mo) of
+        (Just c, Just o)   -> (c, o)
+        (Just c, Nothing)  -> (c, c)
+        (Nothing, Just o)  -> (o, o)
+        (Nothing, Nothing) -> (T.pack defclosingacct, T.pack defopeningacct)
 
     -- interleave equity postings next to the corresponding closing posting, or put them all at the end ?
     interleaved = boolopt "interleaved" rawopts
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.md b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.md
index 6229f657a..bd01eba78 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.md
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Close.md
@@ -7,14 +7,21 @@ period.
 
 _FLAGS
 
-The closing transaction transfers balances to "equity:closing balances",
-and the opening transaction transfers balances from "equity:opening balances",
-or you can customise these with the `--close-to` and `--open-from` options.
 You can choose to print just one of the transactions by using the
 `--opening` or `--closing` flag.
 
-The equity postings appear at the end of the transaction by default; 
-with `--interleaved`, they appear beside their corresponding closing postings.
+The closing transaction transfers balances to `equity:closing balances`,
+and the opening transaction transfers balances from `equity:opening balances`,
+by default. You can choose different account names with the
+`--close-to` and `--open-from` options. If you specify only one of
+these, it is used for both.
+
+The "equity" postings are shown at the end of the transaction
+by default (and are combined when possible).
+With `--interleaved`, they are shown next to each posting they
+balance, instead (better for troubleshooting).
+
+### close usage
 
 If you split your journal files by time (eg yearly), you will
 typically run this command at the end of the year, and save the