diff --git a/plugins/fn-string/functions.c b/plugins/fn-string/functions.c
index 7012598..b16b3a1 100644
--- a/plugins/fn-string/functions.c
+++ b/plugins/fn-string/functions.c
@@ -209,8 +209,14 @@ static GnmFuncHelp const help_exact[] = {
 static GnmValue *
 gnumeric_exact (GnmFuncEvalInfo *ei, GnmValue const * const *argv)
 {
-	return value_new_bool (g_utf8_collate (value_peek_string (argv[0]),
-					       value_peek_string (argv[1])) == 0);
+	char *str1 = g_utf8_normalize (value_peek_string (argv[0]), -1, G_NORMALIZE_DEFAULT);
+	char *str2 = g_utf8_normalize (value_peek_string (argv[1]), -1, G_NORMALIZE_DEFAULT);
+	gboolean val = (g_strcmp0 (str1, str2) == 0);
+
+	g_free (str1);
+	g_free (str2);
+	
+	return value_new_bool (val);
 }
 
 /***************************************************************************/
