diff --git a/libgnucash/scm/test/test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm b/libgnucash/scm/test/test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm
index b5db94b246..a2e0d4d24d 100644
--- a/libgnucash/scm/test/test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm
+++ b/libgnucash/scm/test/test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
   (test-begin "test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm")
   (test-traverse-vec)
   (test-substring-replace)
+  (test-sort-and-delete-duplicates)
   (test-begin "test-libgnucash-scm-utilities.scm"))
 
 (define (test-traverse-vec)
@@ -61,3 +62,28 @@
      "foo" "xxx" 4 -1))
 
   (test-end "substring-replace"))
+
+(define (test-sort-and-delete-duplicates)
+  (test-begin "sort-and-delete-duplicates")
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates empty"
+    '()
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '() <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 1-element"
+    '(1)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(1) <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 2-element, equal"
+    '(1)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(1 1) <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 2-element, unequal"
+    '(1 2)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(2 1) <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 3-element, equal"
+    '(1)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(1 1 1) <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 3-element, 2-equal"
+    '(1 2)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(1 2 1) <))
+  (test-equal "sort-and-delete-duplicates 3-element, unequal"
+    '(1 2 3)
+    (sort-and-delete-duplicates '(3 1 2) <))
+  (test-end "sort-and-delete-duplicates"))
diff --git a/libgnucash/scm/utilities.scm b/libgnucash/scm/utilities.scm
index 4e3af3fdc6..83a0ab1390 100644
--- a/libgnucash/scm/utilities.scm
+++ b/libgnucash/scm/utilities.scm
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 (export gnc:msg)
 (export gnc:debug)
 (export addto!)
+(export sort-and-delete-duplicates)
 
 ;; Do this stuff very early -- but other than that, don't add any
 ;; executable code until the end of the file if you can help it.
@@ -179,3 +180,17 @@
     (lambda args
       (gnc:warn "strftime may be buggy. use gnc-print-time64 instead.")
       (apply strftime-old args))))
+
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;; a basic sort-and-delete-duplicates. because delete-duplicates
+;; usually run in O(N^2) and if the list must be sorted, it's more
+;; efficient to sort first then delete adjacent elements. guile-2.0
+;; uses quicksort internally.
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+(define* (sort-and-delete-duplicates lst < #:optional (= =))
+  (let lp ((lst (sort lst <)) (result '()))
+    (cond
+     ((null? lst) '())
+     ((null? (cdr lst)) (reverse (cons (car lst) result)))
+     ((= (car lst) (cadr lst)) (lp (cdr lst) result))
+     (else (lp (cdr lst) (cons (car lst) result))))))