diff --git a/apps/dashboard/app/lib/smart_attributes/attributes/auto_accounts.rb b/apps/dashboard/app/lib/smart_attributes/attributes/auto_accounts.rb
index 4568af9fce..0a16988e71 100644
--- a/apps/dashboard/app/lib/smart_attributes/attributes/auto_accounts.rb
+++ b/apps/dashboard/app/lib/smart_attributes/attributes/auto_accounts.rb
@@ -21,12 +21,20 @@ def self.build_auto_accounts(opts = {})
 
       static_opts = {
         options: options,
-        value:   default_value(opts, options)
+        value:   default_value(opts, scalar_accounts(options))
       }.merge(opts.without(:options, :value).to_h)
 
       Attributes::AutoAccounts.new('auto_accounts', static_opts)
     end
 
+    # dynamic accounts are in the form [acct, acct, {}]. so cast these
+    # arrays to scalar strings if applicable.
+    def self.scalar_accounts(account_list)
+      account_list.map do |account|
+        account.is_a?(Array) ? account.first : account
+      end
+    end
+
     # try to find which default account value to use given
     # all the input options and the actual users' account list.
     def self.default_value(input_options, account_list)
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/test/lib/smart_attributes/auto_accounts_test.rb b/apps/dashboard/test/lib/smart_attributes/auto_accounts_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4da9397919
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/dashboard/test/lib/smart_attributes/auto_accounts_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'test_helper'
+require 'smart_attributes'
+
+module SmartAttributes
+  class AutoAccountsTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+    def setup
+      stub_clusters
+      stub_user
+      stub_sacctmgr
+    end
+
+    def dynamic_env
+      {
+        OOD_BC_DYNAMIC_JS:   'true'
+      }
+    end
+
+    test 'correctly sets the value when previous value cannot be found' do
+      with_modified_env(dynamic_env) do
+        options = {
+          options:         [['pzs1118', 'pzs1118', {}], ['pzs0715', 'pzs0715', {}], ['pzs0714', 'pzs0714', {}],
+                            ['pzs1117', 'pzs1117', { 'data-option-for-cluster-ruby'=>false }], ['pas1604', 'pas1604', { 'data-option-for-cluster-ruby'=>false }]],
+          value:           'pzs0714',
+          exclude_options: ['pzs1118', 'pzs1117', 'pas1604', 'pzs0715'],
+          fixed:           true
+        }
+        attribute = SmartAttributes::AttributeFactory.build('auto_accounts', options)
+
+        assert_equal('pzs0714', attribute.value.to_s)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end