diff --git a/Lib/decimal.py b/Lib/decimal.py
index 3ad80b3..6529cc8 100644
--- a/Lib/decimal.py
+++ b/Lib/decimal.py
@@ -5491,9 +5491,9 @@
 
     align = spec_dict['align']
     if align == '<':
-        result = padding + sign + body
-    elif align == '>':
         result = sign + body + padding
+    elif align == '>':
+        result = padding + sign + body
     elif align == '=':
         result = sign + padding + body
     else: #align == '^'
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_decimal.py b/Lib/test/test_decimal.py
index 114cd5b..92b029e 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_decimal.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_decimal.py
@@ -704,6 +704,12 @@
             ('.0g', '-sNaN', '-sNaN'),
 
             ('', '1.00', '1.00'),
+
+            # check alignment
+            ('<6', '123', '123   '),
+            ('>6', '123', '   123'),
+            ('^6', '123', ' 123  '),
+            ('=+6', '123', '+  123'),
             ]
         for fmt, d, result in test_values:
             self.assertEqual(format(Decimal(d), fmt), result)