diff --git a/horizon/utils/csvbase.py b/horizon/utils/csvbase.py
index 4009cc44c6..656be1e869 100644
--- a/horizon/utils/csvbase.py
+++ b/horizon/utils/csvbase.py
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ class CsvDataMixin(object):
             self.writer.writerow([self.encode(col) for col in args])
 
     def encode(self, value):
-        return str(value)
+        data = str(value)
+        if data and data[0] in ('=', '+', '-', '@', chr(9), chr(13)):
+            return "'" + data
+        return data
 
 
 class BaseCsvResponse(CsvDataMixin, HttpResponse):
diff --git a/openstack_dashboard/dashboards/identity/projects/tests.py b/openstack_dashboard/dashboards/identity/projects/tests.py
index 635f981238..7f5dbff9ec 100644
--- a/openstack_dashboard/dashboards/identity/projects/tests.py
+++ b/openstack_dashboard/dashboards/identity/projects/tests.py
@@ -1226,10 +1226,10 @@ class UsageViewTests(test.BaseAdminViewTests):
         hdr = ('"Instance Name","VCPUs","RAM (MB)","Disk (GB)",'
                '"Usage (Hours)","Age (Seconds)","State"')
         self.assertContains(res, '%s\r\n' % hdr)
-        usage_1_quoted = ('"=cmd|\' /C calc\'!A0","1","512","0","122.87",'
+        usage_1_quoted = ('"\'=cmd|\' /C calc\'!A0","1","512","0","122.87",'
                           '"442321","Active"')
         self.assertContains(res, '%s\r\n' % usage_1_quoted)
-        usage_2_quoted = ('"=cmd|\' /C calc\'!A0","1","512","0","2.61",'
+        usage_2_quoted = ('"\'=cmd|\' /C calc\'!A0","1","512","0","2.61",'
                           '"9367","Active"')
         self.assertContains(res, '%s\r\n' % usage_2_quoted)