diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/JournalChecks.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/JournalChecks.hs
index dabfb2778..dba78ce7a 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/JournalChecks.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/JournalChecks.hs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import Hledger.Data.JournalChecks.Ordereddates
 import Hledger.Data.JournalChecks.Uniqueleafnames
 import Hledger.Data.Posting (isVirtual, postingDate, transactionAllTags)
 import Hledger.Data.Types
-import Hledger.Data.Amount (amountIsZero, amountsRaw, missingamt)
+import Hledger.Data.Amount (amountIsZero, amountsRaw, missingamt, amounts)
 import Hledger.Data.Transaction (transactionPayee, showTransactionLineFirstPart, partitionAndCheckConversionPostings)
 import Data.Time (Day, diffDays)
 import Hledger.Utils
@@ -239,6 +239,11 @@ findRecentAssertionError today ps = do
   let lag = diffDays (postingDate firsterrorp) latestassertdate
   let acct = paccount firsterrorp
   let (f,l,_mcols,ex) = makePostingAccountErrorExcerpt firsterrorp
+  let comm =
+        case map acommodity $ amounts $ pamount firsterrorp of
+          [] -> ""
+          (t:_) | T.length t == 1 -> t
+          (t:_) -> t <> " "
   Just $ chomp $ printf
     (unlines [
       "%s:%d:",
@@ -250,7 +255,7 @@ findRecentAssertionError today ps = do
       "",
       "Consider adding a more recent balance assertion for this account. Eg:",
       "",
-      "%s *\n    %s    $0 = $0  ; (adjust asserted amount)"
+      "%s\n    %s    %s0 = %s0  ; (adjust asserted amount)"
       ])
     f
     l
@@ -261,6 +266,8 @@ findRecentAssertionError today ps = do
     (showDate latestassertdate)
     (show today)
     acct
+    comm
+    comm
 
 -- -- | Print the last balance assertion date & status of all accounts with balance assertions.
 -- printAccountLastAssertions :: Day -> [BalanceAssertionInfo] -> IO ()
diff --git a/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.j b/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.j
index c1370e626..e4865cabf 100755
--- a/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.j
+++ b/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.j
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger check recentassertions -f
-# Postings more than 7 days after latest balance assertion.
 
 2022-01-01 *
   a  0 = 0
@@ -7,6 +6,7 @@
 2022-01-08 good
   a  0
 
+# More than 7 days after latest balance assertion, fails this check.
 2022-01-09 bad1
   a  0
 
diff --git a/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.test b/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.test
index 1723277a1..b837141b8 100644
--- a/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.test
+++ b/hledger/test/errors/recentassertions.test
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# 1. The first posting more than 7 days after latest balance assertion causes this check to fail.
 $ hledger check recentassertions -f recentassertions.j
 >2 /Error: .*recentassertions.j:11:
    | 2022-01-09 bad1