diff --git a/numpy/testing/tests/test_utils.py b/numpy/testing/tests/test_utils.py
index a31fce4afbc3..21b06090e5e7 100644
--- a/numpy/testing/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/numpy/testing/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -332,6 +332,11 @@ def test_error_message(self):
             # remove anything that's not the array string
             self.assertEqual(str(e).split('%)\n ')[1], b)
 
+    def test_decimal(self):
+        self._assert_func(0.123, 0.129, decimal=2)
+        self.assertRaises(AssertionError,
+                self._assert_func(0.123, 0.129, decimal=3))
+
 
 class TestApproxEqual(unittest.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/numpy/testing/utils.py b/numpy/testing/utils.py
index c6d863f9498a..d8e1da9f776a 100644
--- a/numpy/testing/utils.py
+++ b/numpy/testing/utils.py
@@ -457,7 +457,7 @@ def assert_almost_equal(actual,desired,decimal=7,err_msg='',verbose=True):
 
     """
     __tracebackhide__ = True  # Hide traceback for py.test
-    from numpy.core import ndarray
+    from numpy.core import around, ndarray
     from numpy.lib import iscomplexobj, real, imag
 
     # Handle complex numbers: separate into real/imag to handle
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ def _build_err_msg():
             return
     except (NotImplementedError, TypeError):
         pass
-    if round(abs(desired - actual), decimal) != 0:
+    if around(abs(desired - actual), decimal) >= 10.0**(-decimal):
         raise AssertionError(_build_err_msg())