diff --git a/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/String.php b/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/String.php
index c9ec811e..20cdd710 100644
--- a/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/String.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/String.php
@@ -69,6 +69,13 @@ class PHPExcel_Shared_String
 	 */
 	private static $_thousandsSeparator;
 
+	/**
+	 * Currency code
+	 *
+	 * @var string
+	 */
+	private static $_currencyCode;
+
 	/**
 	 * Is mbstring extension avalable?
 	 *
@@ -598,8 +605,7 @@ class PHPExcel_Shared_String
 			self::$_decimalSeparator = $localeconv['decimal_point'] != ''
 				? $localeconv['decimal_point'] : $localeconv['mon_decimal_point'];
 
-			if (self::$_decimalSeparator == '')
-			{
+			if (self::$_decimalSeparator == '') {
 				// Default to .
 				self::$_decimalSeparator = '.';
 			}
@@ -645,6 +651,38 @@ class PHPExcel_Shared_String
 		self::$_thousandsSeparator = $pValue;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 *	Get the currency code. If it has not yet been set explicitly, try to obtain the
+	 *		symbol information from locale.
+	 *
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function getCurrencyCode()
+	{
+		if (!isset(self::$_currencyCode)) {
+			$localeconv = localeconv();
+			self::$_currencyCode = $localeconv['currency_symbol'] != ''
+				? $localeconv['currency_symbol'] : $localeconv['int_curr_symbol'];
+
+			if (self::$_currencyCode == '') {
+				// Default to $
+				self::$_currencyCode = '$';
+			}
+		}
+		return self::$_currencyCode;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 *	Set the currency code. Only used by PHPExcel_Style_NumberFormat::toFormattedString()
+	 *		to format output by PHPExcel_Writer_HTML and PHPExcel_Writer_PDF
+	 *
+	 *	@param string $pValue Character for currency code
+	 */
+	public static function setCurrencyCode($pValue = '$')
+	{
+		self::$_currencyCode = $pValue;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Convert SYLK encoded string to UTF-8
 	 *
diff --git a/Classes/PHPExcel/Style/NumberFormat.php b/Classes/PHPExcel/Style/NumberFormat.php
index 744020bd..5d6e03a4 100644
--- a/Classes/PHPExcel/Style/NumberFormat.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPExcel/Style/NumberFormat.php
@@ -605,8 +605,8 @@ class PHPExcel_Style_NumberFormat implements PHPExcel_IComparable
 				// Some non-number characters are escaped with \, which we don't need
 				$format = preg_replace("/\\\\/", '', $format);
 
-				// Some non-number strings are quoted, so we'll get rid of the quotes
-				$format = preg_replace('/"/', '', $format);
+				// Some non-number strings are quoted, so we'll get rid of the quotes, likewise any positional * symbols
+				$format = str_replace(array('"','*'), '', $format);
 
 				// Find out if we need thousands separator
 				// This is indicated by a comma enclosed by a digit placeholder:
@@ -663,9 +663,10 @@ class PHPExcel_Style_NumberFormat implements PHPExcel_IComparable
 					// Strip #
 					$format = preg_replace('/\\#/', '', $format);
 
+					$n = "/\[[^\]]+\]/";
+					$m = preg_replace($n, '', $format);
 					$number_regex = "/(0+)(\.?)(0*)/";
-					$matches = array();
-					if (preg_match($number_regex, $format, $matches)) {
+					if (preg_match($number_regex, $m, $matches)) {
 						$left = $matches[1];
 						$dec = $matches[2];
 						$right = $matches[3];
@@ -675,12 +676,11 @@ class PHPExcel_Style_NumberFormat implements PHPExcel_IComparable
 
 						if ($useThousands) {
 							$value = number_format(
-								$value
-								, strlen($right)
-								, PHPExcel_Shared_String::getDecimalSeparator()
-								, PHPExcel_Shared_String::getThousandsSeparator()
-							);
-
+										$value
+										, strlen($right)
+										, PHPExcel_Shared_String::getDecimalSeparator()
+										, PHPExcel_Shared_String::getThousandsSeparator()
+									);
 						} else {
 							$sprintf_pattern = "%0$minWidth." . strlen($right) . "f";
 							$value = sprintf($sprintf_pattern, $value);
@@ -689,6 +689,16 @@ class PHPExcel_Style_NumberFormat implements PHPExcel_IComparable
 						$value = preg_replace($number_regex, $value, $format);
 					}
 				}
+				if (preg_match('/\[\$(.*)\]/u', $format, $m)) {
+					//	Currency or Accounting
+					$currencyFormat = $m[0];
+					$currencyCode = $m[1];
+					list($currencyCode) = explode('-',$currencyCode);
+					if ($currencyCode == '') {
+						$currencyCode = PHPExcel_Shared_String::getCurrencyCode();
+					}
+					$value = preg_replace('/\[\$([^\]]*)\]/u',$currencyCode,$value);
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 3b28d570..4a4015ec 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Fixed in SVN:
 					 Functionally, these are identical to the toArray() method, except that they take an additional first parameter of a Range (e.g. 'B2:C3') or a Named Range name.
 					 Modified the toArray() method so that it actually uses rangeToArray().
 - Feature:	(MBaker) Added support for cell comments in the OOCalc, Gnumeric and Excel2003XML Readers, and in the Excel5 Reader
+- Feature:  (MBaker) Improved toFormattedString() handling for Currency and Accounting formats to render currency symbols
 - Bugfix:   (MBaker) Work item 14888 - Simple =IF() formula disappears
 - Bugfix:	(MBaker) Work item 14898 - PHP Warning: preg_match(): Compilation failed: PCRE does not support \\L, \\l, \\N, \\P, \\p, \\U, \\u, or \\X
 - Bugfix:	(MBaker) Work item 14901 - VLOOKUP choking on parameters in PHPExcel.1.7.5/PHPExcel_Writer_Excel2007