diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.hs
index 19719ce4b..a3b1547b0 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.hs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ accountsmode = hledgerCommandMode
   ([flagNone ["declared"] (setboolopt "declared") "show account names declared with account directives"
   ,flagNone ["used"] (setboolopt "used") "show account names referenced by transactions"
   ,flagNone ["types"] (setboolopt "types") "also show accounts' types, when known"
+  ,flagNone ["declarations"] (setboolopt "declarations") "also show where accounts were declared, for troubleshooting"
   ]
   ++ flattreeflags False ++
   [flagReq  ["drop"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "drop" s opts) "N" "flat mode: omit N leading account name parts"
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ accounts CliOpts{rawopts_=rawopts, reportspec_=ReportSpec{_rsQuery=query,_rsRepo
       declared = boolopt "declared" rawopts
       used     = boolopt "used"     rawopts
       types    = boolopt "types"    rawopts
+      declarations = boolopt "declarations" rawopts
       -- a depth limit will clip and exclude account names later, but we don't want to exclude accounts at this stage
       nodepthq = dbg4 "nodepthq" $ filterQuery (not . queryIsDepth) query
       -- just the acct: part of the query will be reapplied later, after clipping
@@ -94,17 +96,16 @@ accounts CliOpts{rawopts_=rawopts, reportspec_=ReportSpec{_rsQuery=query,_rsRepo
     showType a 
       | types     = pad a <> "    ; type: " <> maybe "" (T.pack . show) (journalAccountType j a)
       | otherwise = ""
-    -- for troubleshooting account display order
-    dbgAcctDeclOrder a
-      | debugLevel >= 2 =
+    showAcctDeclOrder a
+      | declarations =
         (if types then "," else pad a <> "    ;") <>
         case lookup a $ jdeclaredaccounts j of
           Just adi ->
-            " declared at " <> (T.pack $ sourcePosPretty $ adisourcepos adi) <>
+            " declared at " <> (T.pack $ sourcePosPretty $ adisourcepos adi) <>  -- TODO: hide the column number
             ", overall declaration order " <> (T.pack $ show $ adideclarationorder adi)
           Nothing -> " undeclared"
       | otherwise = ""
     pad a = T.replicate (maxwidth - T.length (showName a)) " "
     maxwidth = maximum $ map (T.length . showName) clippedaccts
 
-  forM_ clippedaccts $ \a -> T.putStrLn $ showName a <> showType a <> dbgAcctDeclOrder a
+  forM_ clippedaccts $ \a -> T.putStrLn $ showName a <> showType a <> showAcctDeclOrder a
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.md b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.md
index f55337e20..cb8d9990a 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.md
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Accounts.md
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ Account names can be depth-clipped with `depth:N` or `--depth N` or `-N`.
 With `--types`, it also shows each account's type, if it's known.
 (See Declaring accounts > Account types.)
 
+With `--declarations`, it also shows the file and line number of each
+account's declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration order;
+these may be useful when troubleshooting account display order.
+
 Examples:
 
 ```shell